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SKETCH 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 



DURING' THE 



THREE FIRST YEARS AFTER ITS SETTLEMENT 



TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, 



COPIOUS INT 



BY JOHN 



\ . 




BALTIMORE: 

PUBLISHED BY EDWARD J. COALF, 

No. 176, Baltimore-street. 



(IM/^ 



li2>oo 



District of Maryland, io itde : 

Be it remembered. That on this first day of October, in the thirty-fifth 
year of the Independence of the United States of America, Edward J. Coale, 
of the said district, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right 
whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit ; 

" A Sketch of the History of Maryland, during the three first 
" years after its settlement, to which is prefixed, a Copious Introduction. 
•* By John Leeds Bozman." 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An 
act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts; 
and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times 
therein mentioned ;" And also to the act entitled *' An act supplementary to 
the act entitled, " An act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing 
the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies during the times therein mentioned," and extending the benefits there" 
of to the arts of designing, engraving and etching Historical and other Prints. 

PHILIP MOORE, 
Clerk of the District of Maryland. 



1 cJANll 



/ X*/u J i 



4 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. 

The effects of Columbus's discoveries on the English nation — Commission to 
John Cabot and his three sons — John Cabot's death — Sebastian Cabot's voyage 
— Disputes between the courts of Portugal and Spain, in consequence of 
Columbus's discoveries — Portuguese discoveries — The Pope's Partition — 
Cortereal's voyage — Patents for discovery and trade to some merchants of 
Bristol — Voyages and discoveries of the French — of the Spaniards — Ponce 
de Leon's discovery of Florida — Luke Vasquez's expedition — Verazzini's 
voyage — that of Steplien Gomez — English attempts for discovering a North 
west passage — Pamphilo Narvez's Grant — Ferdinand de Soto's expedition— 
Cartier's — First attempts of the French to colonise Canada — English at- 
tempt to settle Newfoundland — La Roque's attemjit to settle Canada — Fui*- 
ther proceedings of the English — Fishery of Newfoundland — Pension grant- 
ed to Sebastian Cabot. 

SECTION II. 

T«E reign of Elizabeth favovu-able to maritime adventures — Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, the first conductor of an English colony to America — Letters Patent 
to him for that purpose— Characteristic incidents relative to Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert — His first voyage unsuccessful — sails a second time for America- 
takes possession of Newfoundland — is lost on his return to England. 

SECTION III. 

Sir Walter Raleigh — His rise and character — obtains a renewal of Sir 
Humphrey's letters patent to himself — Voyage of captains Amidas and Bar- 
low — The effects of their voyage in England — Sir Richard Grenville's at- 
tempt to settle a colony in North Carolina. 
SECTION IV. 

Attempts to relieve the first colony under governour Lane — A second colo- 
ny at the same place under governour White — Sir Walter Raleigh assigns 
his patent — The whole of the second colony lost — Gosnold's voyage to New 
England — Sir Walter Raleigh's endeavours to find out the second colony at 
Roanoke — Captain Pring's expedition — Captain Bartholomew Gilbert's vay- 
age — Captain Weymouth's. 

SECTION V. 

The progress of the French in settling colonies in America — A settlement of 
convicts on the Isle of Sables, by the French — Cliauvin's voyages to the St- 
Lawrence— Pontgrave's voyage to the same — The Sieur de Monts's com- 
mission, and voyages under it — His patent revoked — Pontrincourt's endea- 
vours to fix a settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia — The Sieur De Monts 
obtains a restoration of his grant — and establishes the first permanent colo- 
ny in Canada, under the conduct of Champlain. 

SECTION VI. 

A NEW association formed in England, to colonise America The letters pa- 
tent commonly called the first charter of Virginia — Proceedings of the Ply- 
mouth Company under this ch;u-ter — The king's Instructions relative to both 
the colonies or companies to be formed under this charter— Proceedings of 
the first or South Virginia Company — The first colony sent out to South 
Virginia under Newport, and a permanent settlement formed at James' town. 
SECTION VII. 

The distresses of the first Virginia colony, and the services of captain Smith 
His first attempt to explore the bay of Chesapeake— His second attempt is 
more successful— A general sketch of the tribes of Indians then inhabifui^- 



iv CONTENTS. 

Virginia and Maryland — Smitli becomes president of Virg-inia, and the te- 
nor of some instructions from England to Virginia — An attempt of the Ply- 
mouth Company to settle a colony in Maine — The second charter of Virgi- 
nia, and the causes of gi'anting it — The settlement of the Dutch at New 
York — English attempt to settle Newfoundland — The third charter of Vir- 
ginia — Captain Argall's expedition to break up the French and Dutch set- 
tlements at Nova Scotia imd New York. 

SECTION VIII. 

Reasoxs for the following digression — Rise of the reformation — Its progress 
through the continent of Europe Its introduction into England — The ori- 
gin of the Puritans — Divisions among the Puritans — State of religious par- 
ties in England, on James Vs accession — The Independents emigrate to Hol- 
land — Their distressing situation there — They form the design of removing 
to America — Negociate with the Virginia Company for that purpose — Dis- 
sensions in the A irginia Company occasion delay — They embaj-k for Ameri- 
ca, and settle at Plymouth, in Massachusetts. 
SECTION IX. 

Causes of the severe statutes against Roman Catholics in England, during 
the reigii of Elizabeth — Their conduct on the accession of James I. — The 
cause of additional statutes against them — The excesses of the Catholics 
and Puritans give rise to political parties — First scheme of a colony of Eng- 
lish Catholics in Newfoimdland, under the patronage of Sir George Calvert 
— Sir George Calvert created lord Baltimore, visits Virginia, with further 
views of colonisation — The conduct of the Virginians towards him — Diffe- 
yences among the Catholics with respect to the oaths of allegiance and su- 
premacy — Lord Baltimore forms the scheme of settling a colony in Maryland 
— Settlement of a colony of Swedes on the Delaware — The Virginians op- 
pose the lord Baltimore's scheme — William Clayborne's claim — Lord Balti- 
more returns to England, and relinquishes his views of a settlement ou 
Newfoundland — obtains the promise of a grant of the province of Mary- 
land, which is given, on his death to his son Cecllius. 
CHAPTER I. 

Cecilius, lord Baltimore, prepares for sending out a cfllony — The Virginians 
petition against his charter — Their petition ineitectual, and the planters re- 
conciled — Lord Baltimore appoints his brother to conduct the colony — Their 
arrival in the Chesapeake — They explore the Patowmack — The governour 
fixes upon St. Clary's for their first settlement — Circumstances favourable to 
them — Proceedings of the colonists after landhig — Great harmony between 
the natives and colonists — Interrupted by Clayborne and his party — Clay- 
borne resorts to open military force — The lord proprietor's instructions rela- 
tive to grants of lands — Grants of small lots in the town of St. Mary's — The 
nature of the first form of government of the colony — An ordinance for that 
pui'pose — Proclamation in England against emigration — Traffic with the In- 
dians regulated in the province — Tiie isle of Kent I'educed to lord Balti- 
more's government — The county of St. Mary's organized — An assembly of 
the province called — The first assembly of the province meet — The assembly 
take into consldera,tion the laws sent in by the proprietoi- — The laws sent re-, 
jected — How far the laws of England were deemed to be in force — The law.s 
sent in by the proprietor again proposed and rejected — Courts of justice meet 
— Proceedings therein against Clayborne's party — The Inhabitants of the isle 
of Kent refuse to sidimit — Governour Calvert proceeds vi'ith a military force 
against them — Secretary Lewger authorised to hold the assembly — Act of 
attainder against William Clayborne — Trial of Thomas Smith, one of Clay- 
borne's men — Inquiry by the assembly into the conduct of captain Cornwalll.s 
— Resolution of the assembly relative to servants — The assembly dissolved — 
The lord proprietor refuses his assent to the laws enacted by the assembly— r 
William Cluyboi-ne's petition to the king in council, and order thereupon 



PREFACE. 



IT Avill, perhaps, be expected' by the public, that some 
reason should be assigned for publishing an Introduction 
to a History without the history itself. The author has to 
reply in explanation thereof, that his origuial intention was 
most certainly to complete the work he had undertaken. As 
this design of his has been of long standing, and numerous 
circumstances have intervened so as to interrupt his pro- 
gress therein, it would afford but little amusement or satis- 
faction to the reader to peruse a rehearsal of them here in 
detail. It will be sufficient to mention, that whenever the 
author's occupation in life v/ould permit his indulgence in 
any literary pursuit, that of history always presented to him 
the strongest attractions. But as it is natural for every man 
to feel an anxiety to know something of the transactions of 
his own neighbourhood, rather than of those abroad, so an 
acquaintance with the history of our native country is a 
more natural object of desire than that of distant nations. 
A native of the American States, will always feel an inter- 
est in the affairs of any one of them. But contracting the 
circle of his patriotic sensations to a smaller compass, he 
finds thaf 'die individual state, of which he is a citizen, nay 
indeed the county and neighbourhood of his nativity, will 
more particularly claim both his affection and his attention. 
The citizen of Maryland, however, has hitherto in vain 
inquired for some information relative to the past transac- 
tions of his own individual state. While almost every 
other state in the Union* has had its historian, Maryland, 
though one of the earliest British colonies, l^as never yet 



vl PREFACE. 

had even its first provincial transactions developed to the 
inquiring reader. Under the influence of these sentiments, 
the author of this Introduction, about six years past, un- 
dertook the task of examining the Provincial Records, at 
Annapolis, with a view of extracting from them the neces- 
sary materials for his design. He soon perceived, that the 
task of procuring these materials was a much more arduous 
one than he expected. It was impossible to compile and 
dio-est from voluminous books of records, scattered in dif- 
ferent offices, where the author would be liable to constant 
interruptions, any historical work worthy of perusal. He 
perceived, that he must have either the original books them- 
selves, or full copies of the documents which they contain, 
in his private apartment, before he could extract from them 
a recital or narrative of their contents. He takes pleasure, 
however, in this opportunity of expressing his acknowledg- 
ments of the polite attentions and readiness to oblige, which 
he received from the two gentlemen, who filled the offices 
of clerk of the Council, and that of the late General Court. 
But, formidable as the labour of copying w^as, the author 
would have readily encountered it, had it not become evi- 
dent to him, that a residence at Annapolis for a year or two 
at least, would be necessary for the puq^ose. Of this his 
circumstances in life did not at that time permit. He re- 
tired, therefore, from his pursuit, w^ith much reluctance, 
though still cherishing some hope, that it might at some 
future time be in his power, by a temporary residence at 
Annapolis, to complete the task he had assigned himself. 
Before this could be accomplished by him, he received in- 
formation, that the gentleman, who has obliged the citizens 
of this state with a most useful work, " The Landholder's 
Assistant," had undertaken also, a History of the state of 
Maryland. As he has manifested much judgment and abi- 



PREFACE. 



iity in the execution of the work already published by him, 
just mentioned, and as he has all the materials either under 
his own direction, (being register of the Land-office,) or 
near at hand to him, the public may expect to be amply 
gratified with his performance. Should, however, the gen- 
tleman just mentioned,* not ha^ e undertaken the work, or 
having undertaken it should have since relinquished it, the 
author of this volume would think himself authorised to 
pursue his original intentions. 

It might not perhaps be improper in this place to suggest 
to the legislature of the state, or at least to those members of it 
who may be competent judges of the utility and importance 
of a faithful history of their native countr}-, that the wTitten 
memorials of the state, whence only that history can be 
extracted, being comprized in a few MS. volumes of which 
no duplicates exist, even should they fortunately escape an 
accidental destruction by fire, yet are constantly acted upon 
by the mouldering hand of time. The curious inquirer, 
who would wish to know something of the causes and ori- 
gin of many of our political as well as civil institutions, 
may soon be told, that these reliques of the doings of our 
ancestors have been considered as useless rubbish, and no 
longer exist. Might it not, therefore, be suggested, that 
as the finances of the state are, as we are told, in a very 
prosperous situation, and the public have much money to 
spare, some judicious compiler should be employed to ar- 
range and publish such documents remaining on our pro- 
vincial or state records as would in any way be necessary 
to form materials for a faithful compilation of our history ? 
A plan of this kind has already been executed with respect 
* to the aggregate history of the several states of the Union, by 

* ]\Ir. Kilty, the gentleman here alluded to, died sir.cC' tliis work Las been 
in the printer's hands. 



viii PREFACE. 

Mr. Ebenezer Hazard, which, it seems, was undertaken at 
the instance of the legislature of the United States. One 
great excellence which the Art of Printing boasts over that 
of manuscript, is the preservation of historical materials, by 
the multiplication of copies. If such a number only of the 
collection proposed was printed, as would be sufficient to 
deposit a copy in each of the several public offices of every 
county in the state, their preservation would be satisfacto- 
rily secured. Another advantageous result from this might 
possibly accrue. It is favourable to the cause of truth, 
that the materials of history should be accessible to all. 
Under free governments, both the animosity of political 
parties, and the fanaticism or bigotry of religious sects are 
well known to be peculiarly prevalent. It is not enough, 
that the historian of such governments should have talents 
for declamation, and should have attained to celebrity 
in the senate or the forum. He should be one who has ac- 
customed himself to view the scrambles of parties and the 
prejudices of sects " in the calm lights of mild philoso- 
phy." How has the once elevated character of Fox, the 
English Demosthenes, faded from its former lustre, by 
one little feeble historical effi)rt — the emanation of party- 
feelings, while that of the diffident and retired Hume rises 
daily in importance, and bids fair to be immortal. Besides, 
the same facts may present themselves to different writers 
in different points of view. One may state some circum- 
stances attending a transaction, which throw much light on 
it, while others may omit the same, considering them as 
immaterial to the purpose. A variety of historians, there- 
fore, contributes much to the preservation of historical 
truth. Thus a modern historian is enabled at this day to 
present to the world a more perfect history of Rome, than 
that of either Livy or Tacitus. 



INTRODUCTION 



TO A 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 



SECTION I. 

The oflfects of Columbus's discoveries on the English na.tion — Com- 
mission to John Cabot and his three sons — John Cabot's death — 
Sebastian Cabot's voyage — Disputes between the courts of Portugal 
and Spain, in consequence of Columbus's discoveries — Portuguese 
discoveries — The Pope's Partition — Cortereal's voyage — Patents 
for discovery and trade to some merchants of Bristol — Voyages and 
discoveries of the French — of the Spaniards — Ponce de Leon's dis- 
covery of Florida — Luke Vasquez's expedition — Vcrazzini's voyage 
—that of Stephen Gomez — English attempts for discovei'ing a 
North-west passage — Pamphilo Narvez's Grant — Ferdinand de 
Soto's expedition — Castier's — First attempts of the French to colo- 
nise Canada — English attempt to settle Newfoundland — La Roque's 
attempt to settle Canada — Further proceedings of the English — 
Fishery of Newfoundland — Pension granted to Sebastian Cabot. 

AS Maryland was originally an English colo- sect. 
ny, to understand fully the early part of its history, v^^--„^^ 
it is indispensably necessary to be acquainted, in 1492. 
some measure, with those events which immediate- 
ly led to its colonisation. This will necessaiily re- 
quire not only a concise detail of such European 
attempts to form settlements in other parts of North 
America, as preceded that of Maryland in time, but 
also a short elucidation of the nature of those reli- 

B 



10 INTRODUCTION TO A 



tion. 



SECT, gioiis controversies in England, which produced the 
y^^^^S->^ colonial settlements in New England and Maryland. 

1492. It is well known to every one tolerably acquainted 
S^stf ^^'^^^ ^^^ History of Maryland, that the first discovery 
Coium- Qf the West Indies, by Christopher Columbus, in 

bus's (lis- •' . * , , 

coveries 1492, filled all Europe with astonishment and admi- 
gUshna- ration. This brilliant achievement of this renowned 
citizen of Genoa, under the patronage and auspices 
of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, cast such a lustre^ 
on their throne as to excite the envy of most of the 
monarchs of Europe. It does, however, no small 
credit to the character of Hemy VII of England, 
their cotemporary, that he listened with a favourable 
ear to the application of Bartholomew Columbus, in 
behalf of his brother Christopher, prior to his grand 
undertaking. But Ferdinand and Isabella had anti- 
cipated him. To make some amends to his sub- 
jects, among whom this discovery had excited an 
uncommon spirit of adventure, Henry invited other 
seamen of known reputation, to enter into his ser- 
vice for similar purposes. It is remarkable, that at 
this period of time the English nation was much in- 
ferior to most other European nations in the science 
of navigation, though, from the advantages which 
its insular situation always gave, the contrary might 
have been expected. Its military glory retained its 
rank of equality with any ; but the inconsiderate am- 
bition of its monarchs had long wasted it on pernio 
cious and ineffectual efforts to conquer France. In 
succession to Avhich, the civil wars produced by the 
contest betAveen the houses of York and Lancaster, 
had, as it were, preyed upon its bowels and exhaust- 
ed its vigour. The city of Bristol, however, appears 




HISTORY OF MARYLAXD. 11 

to have been inhabited at that time by some mer- 
chants of considerable enterprise and public spirit. 
Here also, it seems, a certain Giovanni Gaboto, 1492. 
commonly called by the English, John Cabot, a na- 
tive and citizen of Venice, had long resided. De- 
sirous of emulating the exploits of Columbus, he 
offered himself to Henry as a person amply qualified 
to make further discoveries under the English ban- 
ners. It is to be remembered, that the gi*eat object 
of Columbus, in his first voyage, was not to disco- 
ver such a continent as that of America, but to ex- 
plore a more convenient route to the East Indies, 
which were then supposed to form the grand foun- 
tain of all the wealth in the world. As the islands 
which Columbus discovered, were deemed by him 
a part of those Indies, and the reports of the vast 
quantities of gold and silver found among the na- 
tives of those islands, had, without doubt, reached 
England, Henry, whose prevailing passion Avas ava- 
rice, was easily induced to listen to Cabot's propo- 
sals. He accordingly, by letters patent, bearing 
date the 5th of March, in the eleventh year of his 
reign, (in the year of Christ 1496, according to New 1496. 
Stijle^,) " granted to John Cabot and his three J^j^J^^'' 
" sons, Louis, Sebastian, and Sancias, and their J^^nC^a. 

" heirs, full power to navisrate to any country or his three 

111-1 ^0"^- 
^' bay of the sea, east, west, or north, under his ban- 

" ners, with five ships, of such burthen, and man- 

" ned with as many men as they might choose, at 

" their own cost and charges, to discover such 

** islands, countries, regions, or provinces of any 

* See note (A) at the end of the volume. 



J 2 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. "• nation of infidels whatsoever, or wheresoever si- 
1 

^.^^'>r'^t^ " tuated, which were then before unknown to any 
1496. " Christian people ; and as his vassals, governours, 
" lieutenants, and deputies, to subjugate, occup}% 
" and possess such countries or islands, as shall be 
" discovered by them : so that nevertheless they 
*' should return to Bristol after every voyage, and 
" that they should pay him a fifth part of the nett 
" profits of such voyage ; granting to them and their 
" heirs, to be free from all customs on any goods 
'' or merchandize brought with them from such 
" countries so discovered ; and that no English 
*' subject whatever should frequent or visit such 
" countries so discovered by them, without the 
" license of the said John, his sons, or their heirs, 
" or deputies, under the penalty of a forfeiture of 
*' their ships and goods ; willing and strictly com- 
" manding all his subjects, as well by land as by 
" sea, to be aiding and assisting to the said John and 
" his sons and deputies, in arming and fitting out 
*' his ships, to be done at their own expense."* 

* See this patent at large in Hazard's Collections, Vol. I, 
p. 9 — It may be proper to take notice here of what is alleged 
in Harris's collection of voyages, (edit. 1748, Vol. 2, p. 
190,) that " the year before this patent was granted, John 
Cabot, with his son Sebastian, had sailed from Bristol upon 
discovery, and had actually seen the continent of Newfound- 
land, to which they gave the name of Prima Vista, or Pirst 
Seen ; and upon the report made them of this voyage, the 
before-mentioned patent was granted." But as I do not find 
this circumstance recognised by any historian, except in the 
obscure assertion made by the'authors of the Mod. Univ. Hist. 
Vol. 44, p. 2, " that Sebastian Cabot was sent by Henry VH, 
a year before the discovery of Columbus, and, having first dis- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 13 

There are some circumstances necessary to be sect. 
noticed here, which will plainly account for the de- v.,^-^^-^^^ 
lay which took place with the Cabots in availing 1496. 
themselves of the benefits of this patent. The re- 
strictive clause in the letters, that the equipment of 
their expedition was "to be done at their own ex- 
pense," so consonant to the parsimonious or frugal 
policy of the monarch who granted them, will rea- 
dily suggest, that much difficulty might probably 
occur in the way of these enterprising navigators, 
before they would be able to procure the means of 
preparing such equipment out of their own finances. 
This consideration necessarily leads to point out the 
real cause of a subsequent grant or license by the 
same king, on the 3d of February, 13 Hen. VII. 1493. 
(nearly two years after their first patent,) whereby 
he authorized John Cabot " to seize upon six Eng- 
lish ships,* in any port or ports of the realm of 
England, of 200 tons burthen, or under, with their 
requisite apparatus," &c. Before the license here- 
by granted, could be carried into effect, John Cabot 
diedf. But Sebastian, his son, making application J^^ " ^^' 
to the khig, and proposing to discover a north- ^'^^'■'^■ 

covered Newfoundland, sailed along the coast as far as Flo- 
rida ;" which certainly is without foundation as to thne at 
least, if not extent, I have not thought it proper to be insert- 
ed in the text. It is possible, however, that those authors 
might have meant, that Cabot was sent a year before Columbus 
discovered the continent in his third voyage. If so, it is some 
corroboration of what is said in Harris. 

* The words are, " quod ipse ca/iere possit," &c. Seeit at 
lai'ge in Hazard's Collections, Vol. I, p. 10. 

t Harris's Voyage, Vol. 2, p. 190. 



14, INTRODUCTION TO A 

west passage to the Indies, the grand desideratutii 
of those days, the ruling passion of the king was 
1498. touched, and he ordered a ship to be manned and 
victualled for him at Bristol at the royal expense. 
Some merchants also of that city, fitted out for him 
at their own charges, three or four other ships. 
With this little fleet, Sebastian was now ready to 
undertake his long projected voyage. He accord- 
Sebastlan ingly, in May, 1498,* embarked at Bristol for that 
voyage, purposc. Animated by the example of Columbus, 
he had adopted the system of that great man, con- 
cerning the probability of opening a new and shorter 
passage to the East Indies, by holding a western 
course. He accordingly deemed it probable, that 
by steering to the north-west, he might reach India 
by a shorter course than that which Columbus had 
taken. After sailing for some weeks due west, and 
neai'ly in the parallel of the port from which he 
took his departure, he discovered a large island, 
which he called Prima Fista (First Seen), and his 
sailors (being Englishmen) Newfoundland ; and in 
a few days he descried a smaller isle, to which he 
gave the name of St. John's. He landed on both 
these, made some observations on their soil and 
productions, and brought off three of the natives. 
Continuing his course westward, he soon reached 
the continent of North America, and sailed along it 
' from thence to the thirty-eighth degree of latitude. 
Their provisions now failing, and a mutiny break- 
ing out among the mariners, they returned to Eng- 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 44, p. 60. Hume's Hist, of Eng- 
land, at the end of Hen. 7th's reign. Other historians place 
his voyage in 1497 ; but see note (A) at the end of this Vol. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 15 

land, without attempting either settlement or con- sect. 
quest in any part of this continent.* v^^-^-^/ 

It may be proper here to observe, that although I'iQii. 
Columbus might not have actually been the first 
discoverer of the continent of America, yet as 
he was unquestionably the first discoverer of those 
islands, now denominated the West Indies, and the 
first navigator who had the fortitude to cross the 
Atlantic, he is certainly entitled to all the merit of 
the first discovery of the continent. For the disco- 
very of the continent, after that of those islands, 
must, in the nature of things, have been in a short 
time a necessary consequence. All historians seem 
to agree, that he first discovered that part of the 
continent of South America adjacent to the island 
of Trinidad, on the first of August, 1498, in his 
third voyage. Supposing the first discovery of the 
continent of North America by Sebastian Cabot 
was, as before mentioned, in the same year, to wit, 
1498, he probably fell in with the continent only a 
month or two before Columbus did. Each navi- 
gator, however, appears to have been distinct from, 
and -unconnected with the other ; and therefore, 
each entitled to their respective merits, with this 

* If the reader should be a native of Maryland, and one of 
those who place confidence in a right resulting from prior 
discovery, he will be gratified by the strong probability there 
is, that Cabot in this voyage first saw and discovered that part 
of the State of Maryland, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. 
If he sailed along the coast from the northward to the 38th 
degree of latitude, (which is at or near the divisional line be- 
tween Virginia and Maryland,) he must have had a view of 
Fenwick's and Assatiegue islands, and possibly looked into 
Sinepuxent or Chinigoteague inlets. 



16 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, manifest exception, that Cabot would never, in all 
^^^^>^^-,^^ probability, have been sent out on his voyage, had 
1498. not the fame of Columbus's prior discoveries led 
the way. 
portu- Nor is it easy to deprive the Portuguese nation 

foveries.^' ^^ ^ Considerable share of merit, which they have 
just pretences to, in clearing the road, as it were, to 
the discover}" of America. Their indefatigable in- 
dustry in exploring the coast of Africa during the 
fifteenth century, in order to get to the East Indies, 
undoubtedly induced Columbus to think of his 
western route. And the accidental discovery of 
Brazil in the last year of that century, by Pedro 
Alvarez Cabral, demonstrates, that in the course of 
a few succeeding years, chance would have thrown 
on that commander and the Portuguese nation, all 
the honour and fame which Columbus acquired by 
his own personal sagacity.* 
_. , Immediately on the return of Columbus from his 

Dispute •'_ 

between first voyagc, in 1492, the Portuguese, who had dis- 
of Porta- covered and possessed the Azores, claimed also, in 
Spain" in virtuc thereof, as well as by a former grant of the 
pope,t all such newly discovered islands and coun- 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 1, p. 666. Robertson's Hist, of 
America, Vol. 1, p. 214. 

t This bull of the pope was made in 1444, through the in- 
tercession of prince Henry of Portugal, so celebrated for pro- 
moting the Portuguese discoveries along the coast of Africa. 
The tenure of this grant of tlie pope to the crown of Portugal, 
was, an exclusive right to all the countries, which the Portu- 
guese should discover, from cape A^on,on the coast of Africaj 
to the continent of India. Harris's Voyages, Vol. 1, p. 664. 
Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 9, p. 246. Robertson's Hist, of Ame- 
rica, Vol. 1, p. 69. 



coiise- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 17 

tries as had been visited by Columbus. Their 
catholic majesties, by the advice of Columbus, ap- 
plied to the pope to obtain his sanction of their i498. 
claims, iind his consent for the conquest of the West coium- 
Indies. The Spanish queen being a niece of the covcrLb.* 
king of Portugal, he was induced to agree to a re- 
ference of their dispute to the pope. The pope 
then in the chair, was Alexander VI, a Spaniard by 
birth, and from this circumstance as well as the ge- 
neral depravity of his character, was not perhaps so 
impartial a judge as might be wished. Readily 
acceding to the proposal, he, by a bull, bearing date 
the third of May, 1493, made the celebrated line of 
partition, whereby he granted to their catholic ma- The 
jesties, all the islands and countries already disco- partition. 
veredj.or to be discovered, which should lie west- 
ward of a line drawn from the north to the south 
pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues west- 
ward of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, and 
which had not been actually possessed by any Chris- 
tian king or prince, on or before the first day of the 
same year 1493.* Although the king of Portugal 

* See this bull at large, in the original Latin, in Hazard's 
Collections, Vol. 1, p. 3. The curiosity of a free American 
citizen of the United States, may perhaps be excited to a de- 
sire to know a little of the character of a man, who once had 
the power of making a grant of the land they live in. He is 
thus spoken of by Guicciardini^ an Italian historian of great 
estimation : — In his manners he was most shameless ; wholly 
divested of sincerity, of decency, and of truth ; without fide- 
lity, without religion ; in his avarice, immoderate ; in his 
ambition, insatiable ; in his ci'uelty, more than barbarous ; 
with a most ardent desire of exalting his numerous children, 
by whatever means it might be accomplished ; soipe of whom 

c; 



18 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, had agreed to the reference, he was dissatisfied with 
^^^-.^^.„^, this partition. The subject was, therefore, referred 
1498. again to six plenipotentiaries, three chosen from 
each nation, whose conferences issued in an agree- 
ment, that the hne of partition, in the pope's bull, 
should be extended two hundred and seventy leagues 
further to the west ; that all westward of that line 
should fall to the share of the Spaniards ; and all 
eastward of it to the Portuguese : but that the sub- 
jects of their catholic majesties might freely sail 
through those seas belonging to the king of Portu- 
gal, holding through the same a direct course.* 

Notwithstanding this apparent reconciliation be- 
tween the two contending nations, and their modest 
compromise for half the world, the Portuguese, ha- 
ving reluctantly agreed to it, did not continue in 
that respect for the pope's grant, or the partial con- 
firmation of it by the before mentioned referees, so 
long as might have been expected from that nation. 
1500. In the year 1500, one Caspar de Cortereal, a Por- 
re'ai's voj - tuguese of rcspcctablc family, inspired with the re- 
*^^' solution of discovering new countries, and a new 
route to India, and probably under the influence of 
the jealousy of his nation as to the Spanish incroach- 

xvere not less detestable than their father." See Roscoe's 
Pontificate of Leo X, Vol. l,p. 196. It cannot be asserted, 
however, that this pope Alexander was a worse man than 
Henry the eighth of England, the great voyal refornier- 
What ornaments to Christianity are such characters ! 

• This agreement was made the 7th of June, 1493. It was 
sealed by the king of Spain, 2d of July same year ; and by the 
king of Portugal on the 27th of February, 1 494. Mod. Univ. 
History, Vol. 9, p. 385-6. Holmes's American Annals, Vol. 
■I, p. a. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND tfi 

ments, and in spite of the donation of the pope, sailed sect. 
from Lisbon, with two vessels, at his own cost. In ^^-v-n^ 
the course of his navigation he airived at Newfound- i500. 
land, at a bay, which he named Conception-bay ; ex- 
plored the whole eastern coast of the island, and pro- 
ceeded to the mouth of tlie great river of Canada, the 
St. Lawrence. He afterwards discovered a land, 
which he at first named Terra Verde, but which, in 
remembrance of the discoverer, was afterwards called 
Terra de Cortereal. That part of it, which being 
on the south side of the fiftieth degi'ee of north 
latitude, he judged to be fit for cultivation, he named 
Terra de Labrador. Returning, and communicat- 
ing the news of his discovery to his native country, 
he hastened back to visit the coast of Labrador, and 
to go to India through the straits of Anian, which 
he imagined he had just discovered. Nothing, 
however, was afterwards heard of him. It is pre* 
sumed, that he was either murdered by the Esqui- 
maux savages, or perished among the ice. On 
this disastrous event, a brother of Cortereal, under- 
took the same voyage ; most probably in search of 
his brother : but he is supposed to have met with 
a similar fate, for he was heard of no more.* Al- 

* Holmes's American Annals, Vol. 1, p. 25. Holmes cites^ 
among the authorities for the foregoing account, Harris's Voy- 
ages, Vol. 1, p. 270. After a careful search through both vo- 
lumes of that work, I have not been able to find any of the 
above particulars relative to Cortereal's voyage ; but as it ap- 
pears from Holmes's Index of authors cited by him in the 
course of his work, printed at the end of his second volume, 
that he used the edition of Harris's Voyages published in 
1705, and the one here used is of the edition published in the 
years 1744 and 1748 ; it is possible that this voyage might 



20 INlTtODUCTION TO A 



SECT, though these voyages were undertaken by inclivi- 



,^^^r>^ duals, and not by the royal authority of Portugal, 
1500. yet as these expeditions seem to have been fitted 
out openly, and probably must have come to the 
knoAvledge of the sovereign power of the Portu- 
guese nation, and were not prohibited by them, they 
may therefore be considered as a national trans- 
gression of the interdicted limits prescribed by the 
pope. This short notice of them seemed necessary 
to be made, in order to illustrate more fully the 
early discoveries of the northern parts of the conti- 
nent of America. 

In England also, as little regard seems to have 
been paid to this celebrated papal partition, although 
that country was still under the ecclesiastical power 
of the Roman pontiff. Some schemes of further 
discovery and commercial enterprise having been 

Palfms formed about this time by some merchants of Bris- 

fof disco- ^q1 jj^ conjunction with some Portuguese gentle- 
very and ^1 11 
trade, to mcn, patcnts for that purpose were granted to them 

ciiTntrorby Henry VII, in the sixteenth and eighteenth 
years of his reign, without noticing the before men- 
have been designedly omitted in this last or second edition of 
tliat work. In Vol. 2, p. 401, (edit. 1748), where the north- 
west passage is treated of, there is this short remark, " One 
Cortereal, a Portuguese, is also said to have passed this strait, 
and to have bestowed upon it his name ; but how, when, or 
where, is not to be inquired, or at least to be resolved." The 
authors of the Modern Universal History, in man^ parts of 
their work, particularly in Vol. 11, p. 364, pass high enco- 
miums on this last edition of Harris's Collection of Voyages, 
though they do not mention the editor's name except by de- 
scription, as " the sensible author of the Present State of Eu- 



some mer- 
chants 
Bristol 



HISTORY OF MAR\XAND. 21 

tioned line of division.* But these grants do not sect. 
appear to have ever been productive of any effect ; ^^^^^v^^,^ 
for whicli, some probable reasons may be suggest- 1502. 
ed. Henry was then engaged in a war with Scot- 
land, and an insurrection in his own kingdom. He 
was also about forming an alliance with Ferdinand 
and Isabella of Spain, by the marriage of his son 
to their daughter, which might induce him to dis- 
countenmice undertakings necessarily disagreeable 
to them. To which may be added also, that agi-ee- 
ably to the characteristic genius of Henry, he was 
not so liberal as to give one penny towards the en- 
terprise. Nothing further appears to have been 
done by the English nation, in pursuance of Cabot's 
discoveries, during the remainder of his reign. 

Amidst the enthusiasm excited in Europe by the 
discovery of America, it was not to be expected 
that so great a nation as the French ^vould remain 
totally inactive. It is said, indeed, that they pre- 
tend to a more early discovery of the northern part 
of America, than that of the English under Cabot. 
Though this appears to have but a slender founda- 
tion, yet it seems to be very well authenticated, that 15^04. 
as early as the year 1504, some adventurous navi- amid^rco. 
gators from Biscay, Bretagne, and Normandy, in [i^^'^^ °^ 
France, came in small vessels to fish on the banks French. 

* See the later patent at large in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 
1, p. 1 1, in which recital is made of the prior one, dated May 
J 9th, 16 Hen. VH. In each of these patents a clause of do- 
mination was inserted to the three Portuguese gentlemen 
concerned, in order to prevent them from being considered 
as foreign merchants, liable to duties and disadvantages in 
trade from which English subjects were exempt. 



22 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, of Newfoundland. They ai'e alleged to be the 
y^^^.„^-^^ first French vessels that appeared on the coasts of 
1504. North America ; and from their own account, their 
fishermen are said to have discovered at this time 
the grand bank of Newfoundland. In a year or 
1506. two afterwards, (1506,) Jean Denys^ a native of 
Rouen, sailed from Harfleur to Newfoundland, and 
published, on his return, a map of the gulf of St. 
Lawrence, and of the coast of the adjacent country. 
1508. Also, in 1508, Thomas Aubert, in a ship belonging 
to his father, Jean Ango, Viscount of Dieppe, made 
a voyage from thence to New^foundland ; and pro- 
ceeding thence to the river St. Lawrence, is said to 
be the first who sailed up that great river to the 
country of Canada, and on his return carried to Pa- 
ris some of the natives.* 

The same causes operating on the conduct of 
Henry VIII, for the first three or four years of his 
reign, as in that of his father, they would naturally 
in like manner paralyze any efforts on the part of the 
English nation in pursuance of Cabot's discoveries. 
In the mean-time, however, the Spaniards were go- 
ing on rapidly in their discoveries and conquests in 
the islands and southern part of America. One in- 
cident of which, it may not, perhaps, be unneces- 
sary to mention, as it bears some relation to our 
present inquiries : — a certain Juan Ponce de Leon, 
Ponce de being a Spanish officer of some note in the island of 
dfscov^ery Hispauiola, shortly after the conquest and settlement 
of Florida. Qf <^^ island, had obtained leave to conquer the 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 406. Holmes's Annals, 
Vol. 1, p. 33, 35, 37. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 23 

neighbouring island called Porto Rico. After per- sect. 
forming this, he was for some cause displaced from v^,,rv^^s^ 
his office of governor thereof. But, having thereby 1512 
acquired considerable wealth, he was enabled to fit 
out some vessels, at his own expense for further 
discoveries. He was induced to this, not only by 
that chivalrous spirit of adventure, which appears 
to have been then, among the Spaniards, the fashion 
of the times ; but also, as it is said, to gratify a ro- 
mantic curiosity, in ascertaining the truth of a tra- 
ditional report, which had long existed among the 
aborigines of the island, relative to the extraordi- 
nary .virtues of a certain river, rivulet, or fountain 
in the island of Biminiy one of the Lucayos, which 
had the property of renovating those who bathed in 
its waters, into their former youth and vigour.^ 
Whatever the motives of his voyage might have 
been, it seems, that m pursuance of his schemes, he 
fell upon that part of the coast of North America 
called by him Florida, and which has ever since 
retained that name.* But it does not appear that 
he explored that coast more northerly than the river 
formerly called St. Mattheo, now St. Juan's or St. 
Jolm's in East Florida, and which is a little to the 
southward of what is now the boundary line between, 
the United States and the Spanish territories.! 
' The reader will perceive, that at this period of 
time, (1512,) even after Ponce de Leon's voyage, 
there remained a vast space of the continent of 

* Called so because it "was first discovered by the Spaniards 
on Easter day, which they call Pasqua Florida, Mod. Univ, 
Hist, Vol. 39, p. 123, and Vol. 44, p. 41, 

t Harris*s Voyages, Vol. 2, p, 57. 




^4, INTRODUCTION TO A 

North America along the Atlantic, (from the SOth 
to the 38th degree of North latitude, from Florida 
3512. to the most southern part of the coast of Mar\^land,) 
which had never been visited by any European. 
Although the English court long afterwards, both 
at the time of granting the patent for Carolina, in 
1663, and of their claim to Florida in 1762, pre- 
tended that Cabot's discoveries included both Caro- 
lina and Florida, by which, through right of prior 
discovery, they claimed to the gulf of Mexico,* 
yet as no authentic history can be found to show 
that Cabot ever descended so far to the south,t or 
indeed any lower than the 38th degree of north lati- 
tude, that right must remain unsupported, imless 
the discovery of a part of the continent of North 
America could be construed as giving right to the 
whole of it. But in such an extensive continent as 
this, such a right must appear at once futile and 
vain, and the right of prior occupation^ or settle- 
ment, seems in such case to be the only rational 
right to be relied on, J 

The Spaniards did not, however, altogether ne- 
glect this discovery of Ponce de Leon. Being in 
want of labourers to work their mines in St. Do- 
mingo, they fonned the project of kidnapping the 
natives on this coast for that purpose. Accordingly 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. 419. Oldmixon's British 
Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 325. 

t This assertion I find made by Oldmixon in the place just 
above cited from him, and as it seems to be well founded, it 
is here adopted. But see a further discussion of this subject 
in note (B) al the end of this volume. 

I See note (C) at the ei;d of the volume.- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 25 

in the year 1520, two ships were fitted out from St. 
Domingo, under the command of a Spaniard whose 
name was Luke Vasquez. He proceeded to that 1520. 
part of the continent of North America which was Suez's ex- 
then supposed by the Spaniards to be a part of Ponce petition, 
de Leon's discoveries, and as denominated by him 
Florida: but the place at which Vasquez an'ived, 
was, it seems, that now called St. Helena, a small 
island at the mouth of Port Royal harbour, in the 
southern part of South Carolina, in about 32°, 15' 
north latitude. The natives, it is said, seeing his 
ships as they drew near the land, with expanded 
sails, never having seen the like before, took them 
for two monstrous fishes driving towards the shore, 
and ran in crowds to view them; but on a nearer 
view of the Spaniards, after they had landed, these 
simple natives were so struck with their clothing and 
appearance, that they fled with the greatest marks 
of consternation. Two of them, however, were 
taken ; and the Spaniards carrying them on board 
gave them victuals and drink, and sent them back 
on shore, clothed in Spanish dresses. This insi- 
dious kindness had its desired effect with the unsus- 
pecting savages. The king of the country admired 
the Spanish dresses and hospitality so much, that he 
sent fifty of his subjects to the ships with fruits and 
provisions ; ordered his people to attend the Spa- 
niards, M herever they had a mind to visit the coun- 
try; and made them rich presents of gold, plates of 
silver, and pearls. The Spaniards, having learned 
all they could concerning the country, watered, and 
re- victualled their ships, and inviting a large num- 
ber of their generous landlords on board, after ply-. 

D 



2S INTIIODUCTION TO A 

8ECT. ing them with Uqiior, they weighed anchor and 
,^^-^^>^ sailed off with them. This scheme, however, had 
1520. not all the success its perpetrators expected. Most 
of the unhappy savages either pined themselves to 
death, or were lost in one of the ships that foun- 
dered at sea; so that only a very few survived for 
the pui'poses of slavery. Vasquez, notwithstanding 
his loss, having acquired some reputation from the 
expedition, renewed, in the years 1524 and 1525, 
his attempts to carry on a slave-trade from that part 
of the continent. But, one of his ships being 
wrecked near St. Helena, and two hundred of his 
men being cut off by the natives, he was so discou- 
raged, that he returned to Hispaniola, and died, it 
is said, of a broken heart.* 

Some schemes for discovery and settlement in 
America, were now again revived in France. After 
a lapse of about fifteen years since the expedition 
of Aubert to Canada, in 1508, before mentioned, 
and the accession of Francis the first to the throne 
of France, that excellent monarch began to think 
of making establishments on the American coast. 
1524. With this view befitted out, in the vear 1523, Gio- 
ni's voy. vauui (or John) Verazzmi, a Florentnie, to prose- 
^^^* cute further discoveries in the northern parts of 
America. History has recorded but little worth 
mentioning of any of the three several and succes- 
sive expeditions undertaken by him, except the 
considerable extent of his voyage along the coast of 
North America. He is said to have explored, with 
considerable accuracy, a part of the coast of Flori- 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. 379. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. Hf 

da; and the whole extent of his discoveries was sect. 
about five hundred leagues of the American coast, v^^fv->i^ 
from the thirtieth to the fiftieth degi'ce of north lati- i524 
tude, all of which he denominated New France. 
He is supposed to have first arrived in this his se- 
cond voyage, in the year 1524, off that part of 
America, where the town of Savannah, in Georgia, 
now stands; " a new land," says he, " never before 
scene of any man either ancient or moderne."* 
Having sailed to the southward as far as the 30th 
degree of north latitude, he then turned back and 
sailed northwardly to the 34th degree, and thence 
still northwardly until he found the coast " trend 

* This assertion of Verazzini himself, is extracted by Mr. 
Hohnesin h© Annals, Vol. 1, p. 68, from Hackliiyt's Voyages, 
where Verazzini's own account, which he sent to the king of 
France, immediately on his I'eturn to Dieppe, in July 1524, is 
published. It is some presumptive proof that Cabot, in the 
voyage in Avhich he discovered North America, did not sail 
so low to the southward as Georgia, much less to Cape Flo- 
rida as before mentioned. As twenty years had then elapsed 
since Cabot's voyage, it is not probable that Verazzini was ig- 
norant of the extent of it. It may be said, indeed, that Ca- 
bot might have coasted the continent down to Cape Florida, 
and not have seen nor mentioned the Savannah river, or its 
adjacent lands. But Verazzini's expression, as above, seems 
to imply that Cabot never could have seen it, and therefore 
never passed it. It must be acknowledged, however, that 
there is considerable probability that the Savannah river must 
have been discovered by or known to Vasquez, in some one 
of his voyages before mentioned, he being under a necessity 
of passing close by it in going to St. Helena, which is but a 
little further to the northward of it. But as these voyages of 
Vasquez were about the same time with this of Verazzini, 
and the French and Spaniards were then at war, it is not 
probable that Verazzini had any knowledge of them. 



ii$ INTllODUCTION TO A 



SECT, towards the east;" here (which is supposed to be on 



I. 



the coast of New Jersey or Staten Island) he at- 

1524. tempted to send his boat ashore, but was prevented 
by the roughness of the sea. In latitude 40° he 
entered a harbour, which is supposed to be that of 
New York. Proceeding thence to the eastward, he 
found a well cultivated island, (supposed to be Nan- 
tucket or Martha's Vineyard) and a little beyond it 
a good harbour. He proceeded thence still north- 
wardly along the coast of the country, to 50°, 
nearly to the most northern part of the coast of 
Newfoundland ; and then, on account of the failure 
of his provisions, he returned in July, 1524, to 
Dieppe, in France. He afterwards undertook a 
third voyage, in which he and all his company pe- 
rished by some unknown disaster, and were no 
more heard of.* 

About this time also a voyage was made by the 
Spaniai'ds, which is said to be the first performed 
by that nation, in which the whole of that part of the 
coast of North America, now composing the Uni- 

1525. ^g(j States, was attempted to be explored by them. 
Gomez's Ouc Estcvau Gomcz, (called by the English Ste- 
voyage. pj^gjj Gomez,) a Portuguese by birth, who, on ac- 
count of the great reputation he had acquired as an 
able navigator, had been selected to accompany 
Ferdinand Magellan, then in the service of Spain, 
in his remarkable voyage in the year 1520, wherein 
he discovered the Straits which have ever since 
borne his name ; and who, perfidiously deserting 
Magellan, soon after they had entered the South 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 348. Mod. Univ. Hist. 
Vol. 39, p. 406. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 68, 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 29 

Seas tlirough those Straits, had returned back to sect. 
Spam, probably jealous of the honour which he ^^,^^^^^^ 
perceived Magellan was about acquiring, proposed, 1525. 
soon after his return to the emperor Charles V, the 
discovery of a more direct passage into the South 
Seas than that found by Magellan, through the nor- 
thern part of America. But the emperor, for many 
reasons which appear to have induced him at that 
time to discountenance an opposition to the Portu- 
guese claim of the Moluccas, and at the same time, 
perhaps, disgusted with Gomez's base desertion of 
Magellan, did not listen to his application in so fa- 
vourable a manner as he expected. He therefore 
made proposals of the same nature to the count de 
Aranda, a Spanish nobleman, and some others, to 
induce them to send him by this supposed passage 
to the Moluccas. Less tender of the Portuguese 
rights than the emperor, and \villing to avail them- 
selves of this man's abilities as a pilot, they agi'eed 
to furnish him with a ship for that purpose. Ac- 
cordingly (in the year 1525, as it appears,) Gomez 
sailed to Cuba, and thence in search of this pas- 
sage he coasted the continent northward, as high 
as Cape Ras, at Newfoundland. His heart now fail- 
ing him, as it is said, or more probably chagrined 
at not succeeding in finding the much-desired pas- 
sage, he returned to Corunna, carrying with him 
only some of the unhappy natives, whom he had 
captured somewhere on the coast. An unlucky 
jest, which occun^ed immediately on his return, 
injured both his reputation and the credit of the 
famed north-west passage. When the ship came 
into port, somebody asked, what they had on board? 




so INTRODUCTION TO A 

A seaman answered, Esclavos — slaves, meaning 
the poor Indians. A person on shore, not far from 
1525. the ship, mistaking the sound for Clavos — cloves, 
and setting off immediately for the Spanish court, 
reported there that Gomez had returned with a car- 
go of spice from Moluccas. When the mistake 
came to be discovered, the disappointment, as it 
generally happens when hopes are unreasonably ele- 
vated, produced on the contrary equally unreason- 
able ridicule and derision on his voyage. The men- 
tion of it here, however, serves to illustrate the more 
early discoveries of the continent of North Ame- 
rica.* 
1527. This delusion of a nortli-west passage to the 
attempt to East-Indies, Avhich had thus in Spain prompted this 
a nonhf expedition, was at the same time operating in other 
wes^t pas- parts of Europc. As Henry the eighth of England, 
among other of his inordinate passions, was often 
actuated with the avidity of w^ealth, he M^as induced 
to listen to the advice of a Mr. Robert Thorne, an 
English merchant, who had long resided at Seville, 
^ . in Spain, and had there acquired some knowledge of 
the East- India trade. This gentleman represented 
to Henry the advantages which his kingdom might 
derive from such a commerce, and proposed that 
endeavours should be made to find out a passage to 
tlie East- Indies, by the north-west parts of Ame- 
rica.! The king, on mature deliberation, gave or- 
ders for two ships to be fitted out for that purpose. 
They sailed on the 20th of May, 1527; but the 
voyage was productive of no discovery of import- 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 9, p. 588, 575. 

t Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol, 10, p. 11,12. \:^ 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 31 

ancc. One of the ships was lost in the Gulf of St. sect. 
Lawrence, and the other returned in the montli ^^ ^^^^.^r^^ 
October following, to England. One circumstance 1527. 
attending this voyage of discovery, is perhaps worth 
mentioning. The king ordered, that " several cmi- 
7img men" should embark in the voyage. The wri- 
ter, who mentions this,* explains tliem to mean, — 
" persons skilled in the mathematics; \\\\o, with the 
common sort of people, passed now, and long after, 
for cunning men and conjurers." By an uncom- 
mon association for those da}- s, one of these cunning 
men, it seems, was a priest, — " a Canon of St. Paul's 
in London, who was a great mathematician, and a 
man indued with wealth."! 

To return to the Spaniards : — Notwithstanding 
their disappointment in Vasquez's expedition before 
m.entioned, they were not altogether discouraged 
from pursuing their discoveries in Florida. In 
about four years afterwards, (in 1528,) Pamphilo ^^^s. 
Narvez, the same commander, it would seem, whoNanez's 
a few years before had been ungenerously sent by ^^'^" ' 
Velasquez, governour of Cuba, to supersede the 
great Cortez in his important conquest of Mexico, 
which he was just at that time completing, obtained 
from his catholic majesty, the emperor Charles V, 
a grant of " all the lands lying from the Ri^'er of 
Palms to the cape of Florida. "| 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 192. 

t Hackluyt's Voyages, cited in Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, 
p. 75. 

\ The above description of Narvez's grant is taken from 
Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 75, who appears to have extract- 
ed it from the commission as in Purchaft's Pilgrimage, which 
he there cites. The lUo de las ralmaa^ or River of Palms-, 



32 . INTRODUCTION TO A 

Narvez, in pursuance of his grant, fitted out a 
powerful armament to conquer the country, with 
1528. which he landed somewhere on the western side of 
the cape of Florida, in the month of April, 1528. 
It does not appear that he explored any part of the 
continent at any great distance from the coast bor- 
dering on the Gulf of Mexico. His expedition was 
entirely unsuccessful ; and he and all his men pe- 
rished miserably, except a very few, who, after 
undergoing inexpressible hardships, found their way 
to Mexico.* His grant, however, serves to recog- 
nize the Spanish claim at this early period of time, 
to a most extensive part of the southern coast of 
North America, comprehending a considerable por- 
tion of Louisiana, particularly the most valuable 
part of it to the United States — the territory of Ncav 
Orleans. 
1539. Before we quit our observations on the progress 
drsotS'^ of the Spaniards in the southern part of North Ame- 
expedi- Yica, wc must trcspass a little on the order of time, 
in briefly mentioning a subsequent expedition of 
that nation, in about ten years after that of Narvez, 
for making a conquest of Florida. Ferdinand de 
Soto, who was governour of Cuba, received from 
Charles V, the title of Marquis of Florida, with au- 
thority as we may suppose, to acquire that country 
by conquest. He accordingly, on the 12th of May, 
1539, embarked three hundred and fifty horse, and 
nhie hundred foot, on board of nine ships, at the 

empties itself into the Gulf of Mexico, in that part of the 
coast thereof now called, the New Kingdom of Leon. The 
mouth of the river is in about 25" of north latitude, 
* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. 380. 



HISTORY OF RIAltYLAND. 33 

port of Havanna ; the most formidable armamenf of sect. 
Europeans, that till then had appeared in North ^^^^.^^ 
America. Pursuing his course to Florida, he dis- 1539. 
embarked on the 25th of the same month, at the 
bay of Spiritu Sancto^ which lies on the western 
side of the peninsula of East Florida, on the Gulf of 
Mexico. His route from thence seems to have been 
in various directions from one Indian tribe to ano- 
ther, as they were then scattered throughout that part 
of the continent now called the Floridas ; and from 
the length of some of his marches, as mentioned in 
the account of his expedition, he must have pene- 
trated also far into Georgia, and what is now called 
the Mississippi Territory, among the Creeks and 
Cherokees : who are probably the remains of those 
populous and flourishing tribes of the natives, wdio 
are so pompously described by the famous Inca 
Garcilasso de la Vega, one of the historians of this 
expedition, and who probably felt a partiality for 
those, whom he might consider as his countrymen, 
and consequently a natural indignation at the bar- 
barous usage of them practised on this occasion by 
Soto. After a series of adventures, experienced by 
himself and his army, which have the appearance 
more of romance than reality, during a period of 
almost five years, and having lost the greater part 
of his armament, he died of a fever on the banks of 
the Mississippi ; on which event, the officer next 
in command, prudently contrived to conduct the 
miserable remnant of them, by water, along the 
shores of the Gulf, to Panuco, in the kingdom of 
Mexico. " Thus," says the historian, " ended this 
expedition, in ruhi and poverty to all who were 

E 



SJt INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, concerned in it ; nor did they leave a Spaniard in 
..^..i^, all Florida."* 
1539. We may now attend to the proceedings of the 
French, in the northern parts of the American con- 
tinent, when they first began to make serious at- 
tempts to form settlements in Canada. Although 
the loss of Verazzini had discouraged them, for a 
few years, from fitting out ships for discovery in 
America, yet, agreeably to the genius and charac- 
ter of that nation, their accustomed activity and en- 
ergy on such occasions, soon again revived. A 
certain Jacques Quartier, (called by the English, 
James Cartier,) a native and an experienced pilot of 
St. Malo, was prevailed upon by admiral Cabot to 
undertake another expedition. He accordingly, on 
1534. the 20th of April, 1534, sailed fi"om that port under 
Qu^arUer's ^ commissiou from the French king ; and on the 
voyage, -j^q^j-^ ^f 'M.aj following, he arrived at cape Bona- 
vista, in Newfoundland. Although in cruising along 
that coast to the southward, lie found many commo- 
dious harbours, yet the land was so uninviting, and 
the climate so cold, that he directed his course to 
the Gulf of St. LawTcnce, and entered within a bay 
there, which he called, Le Baye des Chaleurs, on 
account of the sultry weather which he there expe- 
rienced, and which has been sometimes since called 
Spanish Bay.f 

It may, perhaps, gratify the curiosity of those 
who are amused with the origin of names, to take 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. 381. 

t Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 349. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 
39, pa. 40r. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 35 

notice here of a traditional report, mentioned by sect. 
some writers, that the Spaniards had long before v^-.J->^ 
this voyage of Cartier, visited this coast, but find- 1534. 
ing no signs of gold or silver, they huiTied to get 
off again, crying out in the Spanish language, Aca 
Nada ! that is. There is nothing here ! These 
words the Indians retained in their memory, and 
when the French now visited the country, and land- 
ed, they were saluted by the natives with the cry of 
Aca Nada ! Aca Nada ! this the French mistook 
for the name of the country, and have ever since 
called it Canada. The writer from whom this is 
taken, observ^es, that this is a very strange deriva- 
tion, but as he found it in the best French authors, 
he thought it worth setting down.* 

Leaving the bay of Chaleurs, Cartier landed at 
several places along the coast of the Gulf, and took 
possession of the country in the name of his most 
Christian majesty. After which, he returned to 
France, where he arrived on the 5th of September, 
1534. 

Cartier's report to the French monarch, of his 1535. 

First s.t" 

proceedings, was so favourably received by him, tempt of 
that it was now resolved to attempt the settlement French to 
of a colony in the country which he had visited. canS 
He was accordingly furnished with three large ships 
for that purpose, and sent out again with a sufficient 
number of colonists ; among whom were many 
young men of distinction, who were desirous of 
accompanying him in the character of volunteers. 
He arrived in the Gulf on the IQth of August, 1535, 

* Hai-ris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 349, 



36 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, and because that was St. Lawrence's day, he then 
s^^^r-^r^^ gave it the name of the Gulf of St, Lawrence, whicli 
1535. name was subsequently extended to the river, and 
which both retain to this day. Passing by an is- 
land, to which he gave the name of Assumption, 
since called Anticosti, he sailed up the Saguenay, a 
river emptying into that of St. Lawrence. Return- 
ing from thence, and proceeding up the river St. 
Lawrence, he passed a small island, to which he 
gave the name of Isle aux Cuodriers, Isle of Hazels, 
from tlie number of those trees growing on it ; and 
afterwai'ds came to another island so full of vines, 
that he called it the Isle of Bacchus ; but it has 
since acquired the name of the Isle of Orleans. He 
had in his kst voyage, the precaution to carry two 
of the natives with him to France, where they 
learned as much of tlie language, as enabled thera 
now to serve as interpreters between him and their 
countrymen. Sailing further up the St. Lawrence, 
he entered a small river, where he had an interview 
with an Indian chief, whose name was Donnacona, 
and where he was informed of an Indian town called 
Hochelaga, which was deemed the metropolis of the 
whole countr}% and situated in an island now known 
by the name of Montreal, near to which it would 
seem he then was. The inhabitants here, who are sup- 
posed to have been the Hurons, the most tractable of 
all the Indians then in Canada, treated Cartier and his 
attendants with much hospitality, expressing at the 
same time astonishment at their persons, dress, and 
accoutrements. He had at this time with him only 
one ship and two long boats, having left the rest at 
St. Croix, a port in the river of St. Lawrence, to 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 37 

which port he returned, and there spent the winter, sf.ct. 
The severe cold of the cHmate, together with a^_^^".^^ 
more probable cause ; the use of salt provisions, loss. 
brought on them the scurvy, with which he and 
his people would have perished, it is supposed, had 
they not, by the advice of the natives, used a decoc- 
tion of the bark and tops of the white pine. On 
the approach of spring, Cartier prepared to return 
to Europe. Whatever other excellencies of cha- 
racter he might have possessed, gratitude does not 
appear to have been a prevalent sentiment with him. 
He was ungenerous enough to kidnap his Indian 
friend, Donnacona, and carry him to France, where 
he arrived in the spring of 1536.* 

As Henry VHI, and Francis I, were at this time 
upon the very best terms, and as neither of them 
expected to draw much immediate wealth from 
their North American expeditions, it was natural 
that they should not suffer that harmony, which then 
subsisted between them, to be interrupted by the 
feeble attempts which the subjects of each were 
then canying on for the establishment of colonies 
in America. In corroboration of this it may be 
obser\'ed, that such establishments were with Henr}" 
but secondary objects ; for, his principal desire was 
to find out a north-west passage, so that, agreeably 
to his imperious temper, he might have a way of his 
own to the East Indies, and not be obliged to follow 
the route either of the Spaniards or Portuguese. It 
^VAS this inclination of the king, that indii-ectly pro- 
duced a spirit in the English nation, at this time, 

• Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 349. Mod. Univ. Hist. 
Vol. 3S, p. 408. 



38 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, for discoveries and settlements in the noitliern parts 
y^^^-^^^s^ of America, notwithstanding the many difficulties 
1536. and dangers which appeared to attend them. Ac- 
attempt to cordingly a Mr. Hore, a merchant of London, a 
^^e^! man of considerable estate, of an athletic constitii- 
ioundiand. ^Jqj^ q^^^ undaunted fortitude, and addicted to the 
study of the sciences of geography and astronomy, 
resolved to undertake a voyage, and attempt a set- 
tlement in Newfoundland. He no sooner made his 
intention known, than he received all the counte- 
nance and encouragement from the crown that he 
could expect ; and as this gave much credit to the 
expedition, so in a short time many young gentle- 
men of good fortunes and distinguished families, 
offered to share both the expense and dangers of 
the undertaking. Among these were some men of 
the learned professions, pai'ticularly a Mr. Thomas 
Butts, son of Sir William Butts, the king's first 
physician, and a Mr. Rastal, brother to Serjeant 
Rastal, the eminent special pleader. About the 
end of April, 1536, all things were ready, and the 
whole of the companies of both ships, amounting tQ 
one hundred and twenty, mustered at Gravesend, 
where, with much ceremony, they embarked. They 
soon after sailed, and arrived in the space of t\\ o 
months at cape Breton ; from whence they sailed 
round a great piut of Newfoundland, to Penguin 
island. They afterwards went on shore upon the 
east side of Newfoundland, where they staid till 
their provisions were nearly exhausted. Being then 
afraid to trust themselves at sea in such a condi- 
tion, they delayed going on board till they were in 
such distress, that they began secretly to murder 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. jy 

and eat one another ! This horrid practice coming sect. 
to tlie knowledge of their captain, or governour, he, v.,^-v->^ 
by a most judicious and pathetic speech, brought i536. 
them to resolve rather to live upon grass and herbs, 
than to subsist any longer by this detestable method. 
But it happened soon after, that a French ship put 
in there, well manned and well victualled, of which 
the Englishmen resolved to take advantage ; and 
therefore, watching a fair opportunity, they pos- 
sessed themselves of the French ship, and leaving 
their own, sailed directly for the coast of England. 
They returned safely ; but some of them so much 
altered by their fatigues, that their friends did not 
know them again ; particularly young Mr. Butts, 
whose parents could not recognise him, but by a 
mark on his knee. Another circumstance relating 
to this unfortunate enterprise, is mentioned also, as 
redounding much to the credit of Henry VIII. 
The Frenchman, whose ship had been thus taken, 
came to England not long afterwards, to complain 
of the violence committed upon them. King Henry 
examined very minutely into the affair, and finding 
that extreme want was the sole cause of an action, 
otherwise inexcusable, he satisfied the French to the 
full extent of their demands, out of his own coffers, 
and pardoned in his own subjects that wrong, which 
necessity forced them to commit.* 

The accounts which had been given in France 
of the before- mentioned voyage of Cartier to Ca- 
nada, had, according to some writers, made an 
unfavourable impression on both the nation and its 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 192. 



40 INTRODUCTION TQ A 

monarch. Not being able to produce either gold 
or silver, all that this unfortunate gentleman could 
3540. urge about the utility of the settlement and the 
fruitfiilness of the country was treated with neglect 
by the public. Some individuals, however, appear 
to have cherished a different opinion. For, in about 
four years after Cartier's expedition before men- 
tioned, the project of settling Canada began again 
to be talked of, and a gentleman of Picardy, whose 
La Roc- name was Francis de la Rocque, Lord of Roberval, 

que's at- .,..,.. 

tempt to undertook to accomplish this design. To qualify him 

settle CjSl- 

nada. for this thing Francis I, by letters patent dated Janu- 
aiy i5th, 1540, erected him viceroy, and lieutenant- 
general in Canada, Hochalaga, Saguenay, Newfound- 
land,Belle-isle, cape Breton and Labrador, giving him 
the same power and authority in those places that he 
had himself. This gentleman, who had a good es- 
tate, fitted out two ships at his own expense, and 
prevailed upon James Cartier, by the large promises 
he made him, to undertake another voyage to Can- 
ada. La Rocque not being ready for embarkation 
himself, he sent Ciutier with five ships before him, 
liaving previously obtained for him a royal commisr 
hion as captain-general.* Cartier commenced this 
voyage in May, and after encountering many storms, 

* This commission is inserted entire in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 19, 21. It is worthy of remark, that in 
this commission to Cartier, power is given to him to choose 
fifty persons out of such criminals in prison as shall have 
been convicted of any crimes whatever, except treason and 
counterfeiting money, whom he should think fit and capable 
to serve in the expedition. See an account of a settlement 
of convicts on the Isle of Sables, by the French, in the year 
1598, post. p. 94. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 4.1 

landed in Newfoundland, on the 23d of August, sect. 
Roberval not arriving, he proceeded to Canada ; and v^^-v-s^* 
on a small river four leagues above the port de St. 1540. 
Croix, and at no great distance from where Quebec 
now stands, he built a fort and began the first settle- 
ment in Canada, which he called Charlebourgh. Car- 
tier having waited there in vain above a year, for 
the arrival of the viceroy Roberval, and having near- 
ly consumed all his provisions, and now dreaded an 
attack from the savages, set out in the year 1542 on 
his return to France. Roberval, with three ships 
and two hundred persons, coming to recruit the set- 
tlement in Canada, met him at Newfoundland, and 
would have obliged him to return to his province ; 
but Cartier eluded him in the night and sailed for 
Bretagne. The viceroy proceeding up the river St. 
Lawrence four leagues above the island of Orleans, 
and finding there a convenient harbour, built a fort, 
and remained over tlie winter. It is probable that 
he returned to France in the next year ; for we find 
him again, in the year 1549, embarking for the 
river St. Lawrence, accompanied by his brother and 
a numerous train of adventurers ; but they were ne- 
ver heard of afterwards. With them expired, or at 
least ceased for many years, all the hopes which had 
been conceived in France of making settlements in 
America.* 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 349. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, 
p. 408. It seems to be alleged hei-e, in the Mod. Univ. Hist, 
that, notwithstanding this loss of Roberval and his adventur- 
ers, some few French settlers still remained in Canada. If so, 
they must have been some left there by him on his return ao 
France, after his first voyage in 1542, when he met Cartier, 

F 



42 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. To return to the proceedings of the English na- 
y^^.^^^,^ tion. — Although Henry VIII, during his long reign, 

1546. was frequently at open enmity with Spain, and, for 
Proceed- considerable part of it, was under no restriction 

ings 01 the r ' 

English, from a papal bull, yet his interference in the affairs 
of the continent, and the vexation he experienced 
about his wives, seem to have so much engrossed 
his attention, and of consequence that of the nobility 
and gentry of his kingdom, that his reign appears 
to have been unfavourable to the progress of disco- 
very. 

In the feeble minority of his son Edwai'd VI, less 
was to be expected. It seems, from the preamble 
to a statute made in the second and third year of 
this king's reign,* that, " within a few years, then 
past, there had been levied and taken by certain 
officers of the admiralty, of such merchants and 
Fishef fishermen as had used and practised adventures and 
of New- vovaares to Iceland, Ireland, and other places, com- 

found- -^ ° . / 

land. modious for fishmg, divers great exactions, as sums 
of money, doles, and shares of fish, for licenses to 
pass the realm for such purposes;" severe penalties 
were therefore enacted against such offenders. This 
statute appears to have originated from some abuses 
either connived at or practised by the king's uncle. 

This seems, however, to be contradicted by a passage in Char- 
levoix's Nouv. France, 1,22," Avec eux tomberent toutes les 
esperances, qu'on avoit con9ues de faire un etabHssement en 
Amerique." And in Harris's Voyages, just cited, it is said 
that " it was this gentleman (Roberval) who first fixed some 
French settlements in America, which, however, were after- 
wards abandoned." ^ 

* II and III Edw. 6. c. 6. at a parliament holden November 
4th, 1548. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 4; 

Thomas Seymour, lord high admiral of England, sect. 
who was attainted by an act of parliament of this v,_^^,->^ 
same session. As the admiral had undoubtedly 1548. 
formed very unjustifiable schemes of ambition, and 
probably took this method of obtaining money as 
the means of success in tliose schemes, there h 
every reason to suppose that the accusations against 
him on this subject, were not without foundation. 
The act, however, serves to show, that the English 
fishery on the coast of Newfo midland, was at this 
period an object of such national importance as to 
deserve legislative encouragement; and it is said to 
have been the first act of parliament that ever was 
made in relation to America.* 

The pension which ^vas in this reign also granted 1549. 
to Sebastian Cabot, f seems to imply, that his servi- ^^.!^^led 
ces in the discovery of North America were not t" Oabot. 
deemed entirely unworthy of remuneration. It must 
be observed, however, that in the reigns of both 
Henry and his son Edward, the ruling persons in 
England appear to have been less desirous of mak- 
ing discoveries of new countries and settlements 
therein, than in exploring a more expeditious route 
to the East-Indies. After failing in some of their 

• Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 94. 

t See the letters patent for this pension at large, in Ha- 
zard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 23. It bears date, January 6th, 
2 Edwd. 6, (which, according' to new style, was January 6th, 
1549). It is said, in Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 193, that 
Cabot was by this patent created grand pilot of England, but 
no such grant of an office appears in the instrument published 
by Hazard. He seems to have been at the head of a company, 
which existed in England at this time, under the title of 
" Merchant Adventurers for the discovery of New Lands." 



44 INTRODUCTIOX, &c. 

SECT, attempts to find out what was called a north-west 
\^y^.^^.^,^ passage thereto, the minds of the nation seem to 

1549. have been at this time turned towards a discovery 
of what was called the north-east passage. This 
\vas, in all probability, a more preponderating cause 
which induced them to hold Mr. Cabot's talents in 
such high request; and this strange infatuation of 
the nation about these passages might probably also 
be one cause of preventing their attention at this 
time to the more substantial and practicable pur- 
suits of Cabot's discoveries in America. 

In the reign of Queen Mary, her marriage with 
Philip, king of Spain, necessarily put a stop to any 
thing whatever, that might possibly interfere with 
the affairs of that nation in America. Thus, from 

1553. a singular series of causes, did sixty years elapse 
from the time when the English first discovered 
North America, before they had made any effectual 
efforts to avail themselves of the advantages result- 
ing from that discovery. 



SECTION II.* 

Tlie reig^ of Elizabeth favourable to maritime adventures — Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert, the first conductor of an English colony to America 
—Letters Patent to him for that purpose— Characteristic incidents 
relative to Sir Humphrey Gilbert — his first voyage unsuccessful — 
sails a second time for America — takes possession of Newfound- 
land — is lost on his return to England. 

A VARIETY of concurrent circumstances, sect. 
contributed to render the reign of Elizabeth favour- v,^r.v^^/ 
able to the growth of the maritime power of Eng- i558. 
land. The intercourse which had subsisted for of Eliza- 
some time between the English and Spanish na- vourabie 
tions, through the alliance of their monarchs, espe- t|^^'"Yd" 
cially in the reign of Mary, immediately preceding, ventures. 
had diiFused among the English a considerable 
knowledge, not only of the general naval affairs of 
Spahi, but more particularly of their American dis- 

* The author had prepared a distinct section, to be inserted 
here, containing; a sketch of the attempts of the French pro- 
testants, under the direction and patronage of admiral Coligny, 
to plant colonies, about this time, in that part of the continent 
of America, now called South Carolina, in consequence of the 
oppressions which these protestants experienced from the 
civil war then raging in France. The emigration of the 
French Hugonots, under Ribaut and Laudonniere — the cruel 
massacre of them by the Spanish catholics, under Menendez, 
and the just retaliation inflicted upon the Spaniards by the 
Chevalier de Gorgues, form a very interesting part of Ame- 
rican history. But as the reader would probably consider 
these events, as bearing but a slight relation to the history to 
which this volume is intended as an introduction, it has been 
thought most proper to suppress that section. 



46 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, coveries and settlements. The wealth, which was 
^^,-yi^^ supposed to flow in upon the Spanish nation, from 
1558. that source, would naturally allure the English to 
some endeavours to participate in these advantages. 
The accession of Elizabeth to the throne of Eng- 
land, together with the restoration of the reformed 
religion, in the course of a few years placed the 
two nations in a state of hostility towards each other. 
Queen Elizabeth early foresaw this, and neglected 
nothing that might keep up and promote a maritime, 
spirit among her people. She therefore, in a parti- 
cular manner, manifested her approbation of the 
naval exploits of captain Hawkins, Sir Francis 
Drake, and other great mariners. It must be ob- 
served here, that soon after the discovery of the 
northern part of America by Cabot, and especially 
that part of it, denominated by him Newfoundland, 
divers other European nations resorted to that coast, . 
for the great emoluments to be derived from the 
fishery on its banks. Insomuch, indeed, that some 
of them affected to claim the riglit of the first dis- 
covery of that countr}^ But^ as that claim appear- 
ed to be without foundation, and as the advantages 
©f the fishery, would be much enhanced to any na- 
tion that might have possession of that island, the 
able ministry of that politic princess, could not be 
insensible to the advantages of making a settlement 
thereon. Added to this, the extensive progress, 
which the Spanish nation had now made in the co- 
lonisation of South America, could not fail to excite 
the ardent emulation of the English, in following 
their example by a like colonisation of the north. 
Indeed, the danger of anticipation must have been 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 47 

now urgent ; for, it appears by an account publish- sect. 
ed in the year 1578,* that there were fifty sail of ^^^^.,,^>^ 
English ships, one hundred sail of Spaniards, fifty 1558. 
of Portuguese, and one hundred and fifty French, 
employed in that year, in the fishery on that coast. 
It was evident, therefore, that so extensive and in- 
viting a continent as North America, could not 
now remain much longer without some attempts by 
some nation, to fix settlements thereon. 

At this period then. Sir Humphrey Gilbert is i^rs. 
mentioned by historians, with the distinction due to pin-ey gu- 
the conductor of the first English colony to Ame- conductor 
rica. He was a native of Devonshire ; inherited a first'Eri- 
good estate, and had early rendered himself conspi- giishcolo- 
cuous by his militaiy^ services in France, Ireland, America. 
and Holland. Having afterwards turned his atten- 
tion to naval affairs, he pubHshed a discourse con- 
cerning the probability of a north-west passage to 
the Indies; which discovered no inconsiderable 
portion, both of learning and ingenuity, mingled 
with the enthusiasm, the credulity, and sanguine ex- 
pectations which incite men to new and hazardous 
undertakings, t With the honourable desire of in- 

• By a Mr. Barkhurst. See Harris's Voyages, VoL 2, 
p. 198. 

t Robertson's Hist, of America, Vol. 4, p. 159. Tindal's 
edit, of Rapin's Hist, of England, Vol. 7, p. 387. Leland's 
Hist, of Ireland, Vol. 2, p. 252. In confirmation of the above 
character of Sir Humphrey, from Robertson, it may be men- 
tioned, that Sir Humphrey was, a few years before this, (be- 
tween the years 1571 and 1574,) engaged with the learned Sir 
Thomas Smith, in some visionary schemes of alchymy, ^ 
through which means Ihey expected to accumulate sudden 
wealth, by the transmutation of iron into copper. They were 



46 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, creasing his private fortune, by the pursuit of the 
i^,-.^^^^^ public service, he applied to Elizabeth for permis- 
I5r8. sion to carry his schemes into effect. He repre- 
sented to her the expediency of settling all those 
countries upon the continent of America, which had 
been formerly discovered by Cabot, because other- 
wise it was not at all unlikely, that the French, who 
had often reviewed those places, would be desirous 
of supplanting the English, and because it was very 
far from being improbable, that those countries 
abounded with very rich minerals.* Upon these 
suggestions, he easily obtained from the queen, 
letters patent, vesting in him sufficient powers for 
this purpose. 

It has been observed, that this being the first 
charter to a colony granted by the crown of En- 
gland, the articles of it merit particular attention, 
as they unfold the ideas of that age with respect to 
the nature of such settlements.! " She thereby 

men of such reputation for talents and genius, that they drew 
in secretary Cecil and the earl of Leicester, to join them in 
the scheme. The pi'oject eventuated, as other delusive 
dreams of alchymy have generally done — in the ruin of the 
projectors. Sir Thomas smarted very severely in his purse, 
and Sir Humphrey w^as impoverished by it. The former 
sought to recruit his finances by planting colonies in Ireland, 
and the latter by the like proceedings in America. It is, 
however, one among many instances, wherein the very errors 
of philosophers have been consequentially productive of great 
good to mankind. See a biographical account of the life of 
Sir Thomas Smith, published in the Pennsylvania Magazine 
for January, 1776. 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 199. 

t Although this observation is made by Robertson, {Ibid. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND; 49 

grants to him, and to his heirs and assigns, for ever, skct. 
license to discover and view such remote heathen ^' 
and barbarous lands, countries, and territories, as 1578. 
were not actually possessed by any Christian prince Leu^rs 
or people, and the same to hold, occupy, and enjoy fj^^J"!,,^,.^ 
to him, his heirs, and assigns for ever, with all com- i?o^^- 
modities, jurisdiction, and royalties, both by sea 
and land ; and the said Sir Humphrey, and all sucli, 
as from time to time, by royal license, should go 
and travel thither, to inhabit or remain there, the 
statutes or acts of parliament made against fugitives, 
or any other act, statute, or law whatever, to the 
contrary in any wise notwithstanding.* And that he 
might take and lead in the same voyages, to travel thi- 
therward, or to inhabit there with him, such, and so 
many of her subjects as should willingly accompany 
him, so that none of them be such as thereafter should 
be specially restrained by her. And further, that he, 
his heirs, and assigns, should liave, hold, occup}^, 
and enjoy forever, all the soil of all such lands, &c. 
with the rights, royalties^ and jurisdictions, as well 
marine as other, within the said lands, with full 
powder to dispose thereof, or part thereof, in fee sim- 

last cited,) yet there seems to be no sound reason, why the 
letters patent granted by Henry VII, in the year 1502, to 
Hugh Elliott and others, merchants of Bristol, as before men- 
tioned, should not be called a charter to a colony, as well as this 
to Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The former, after granting license 
to the patentees to dincover new countries, grants them^ 
license also, to take out with them, any English subjects to 
inhabit and settle in those countries so discovered — " ct in 
einUem in/mbitare." No permanent settlement in America 
was ever formed under either of the charters. 
* See note (D) at the end of this volume, 

C 



INTRODUCTION TO A 

pie, or othcr^\ ise, according to the la^v■s of England, 
at his and their will and pleasure, to any person 
J 578. within her allegiance, paying unto her the fifth part 
of all the gold and silver, that should be there got- 
ten : the said lands, &c. to be holden by the said 
Sir Humphre}', his heirs and assigns, of her majesty, 
her heirs and successors, by homage, and by pay- 
ment of the fifth part before reserved. She grants 
him license to expel all persons, who without his 
t-pecial permission, should attempt to inhabit the 
said countries, or within two hundred leagues of 
the place, where he, his heirs, or assigns, should, 
Xvithin six years next ensuing, make their settle- 
ment : and she authorises him to capture all per- 
sons, with their A'essels and goods, who should be 
found trading within the limits aforesaid, without 
his license. And for uniting in perfect league and 
amity, such countries, lands, and tenutories, so to 
be possessed and inhabited, as aforesaid, she de- 
clares, that all such countries, so to be possessed 
and inhabited as aforesaid, from thenceforth should 
be of the allegiance of her, her heirs and successors, 
and the persons to inhabit them should enjoy all 
the privileges of free denizens or natives of En- 
gland. She grants to Sir Humphrey, and his heirs 
and assigns, for ever, that he and they might, from 
time to time, for ever thereafter, within the sisid 
mentioned remote lands and countries, and in the 
way by the seas thither, and from thence, have full 
power and authority to coiTCct, punish, pardon, go- 
vern and rule, by their good discretions and poli- 
cies, as well in causes capital or criminal, as civil, 
both in marine and other, all such her subjects, and 



HISTORY OF MARYI.AM). 51 

Others, as should inhiibit the snid countries, accord- 
ing to such statutes, laws and ordisiances, as should 
be by him, the said Sir Humphrey, his heirs, and 15ts. 
assigns, devised or established, for the better go- 
vernment of the said people as aforesaid ; so always, 
that the said statutes, laws and ordinances, may be, 
as near as conveniently may, agreeably to the form 
of the laws and policy of England : and also, so as 
thev be not against the true Christian faith or reli- 
gion now professed in the church of England, nor 
in an}^ wise to withdraw any of the subjects or peo- 
ple of the lands or places, from the allegiance of her, 
her heirs or successors."* 

After obtainino' this flwour from the queen. Sir ^'^'^i'^''- 

•II- IP 1 • 1 • teiistic in- 

Humphrcy applied himself to his relations and cidcnts 

• rtlntivc to 

friends, in order to frame a society capable of car- sir Hum- 
rying this design into execution ; for, it seems that ^j^^^^' ^'^' 
the English monarchs of those times, were either 
unable or indisposed, to defray the expenses of these 
great naval expeditions, although the public \\ ere to 
be principally benefited by them. Hence, as Avas 
observed before, the Cabots were obliged to bear 
the expenses of their Aoyages themselves, except 
with what aid they might procure from the merchants 
of Bristol ; and it has been attributed to the parsimo- 
ny of Elizabeth, though it might probabh' have been 
owing to her inability, that she contributed but lit- 
tle, besides her royal license, to aid the many im- 
portant naval expeditions undertaken in her reign. 
With her letters patent, indeed, for the erection of 
exclusive companies for trade, she was very liberal. 

• See this charter at large, in Hazard's CoIIccllons, Vol. 
I, p. 24. 



52 INTUODUCTION TO A 

>!FCT. Hence monopolies were among the most grievous 
^_,,^j^^ burthens of her high-toned exertion of prerogatiA^e. 
157^. We are sorry to find, that our worthy knight was 
among the most zealous advocates for these exer- 
tions of royal authority ; perhaps, indeed, self-in- 
terest might haA'e an undue operation in his mind. 
He was a member for Dca onshire, in the house of 
commons, at the parliament holden in the 13th of 
Eiiz. a few j^ears prior to the date of his patent. 
One Robert Bell, a Puritan, (to which sect, as ob- 
served by Hume, although dieir principles appear 
so frivolous, and their habits so ridiculous, yet the 
English owe the whole freedom of their constitu- 
tion,) had, in that session, made a motion against an 
exclusive patent, granted to a company of mer- 
chants in Bristol. Sir Humphre}^ spoke against the 
motion : " He endeavoured to prove the motion 
made by Bell, to be a vain device, and perilous to 
be treated of; since it tended to the derogation of 
the prerogative imperial, which, whoever should at- 
tempt, so much as in fancy, could not, he said, be 
otherwise accounted than an open enemy. For, 
what difference is there between saying, that the 
queen is not to use the privilege of the crown, and 
sa^-ing that she is not queen ? And though expe- 
rience has shown so much clemency in her majesty, 
as might, perhaps, make subjects forget their duty, 
it is not good to sport or venture too much with 
princes. He reminded them of the fable of the 
hare, who, upon the proclamation, that all horned 
beasts should depart the court, immediately fled, 
lest his ears should be construed to be horns ; and 
by this apologue, he seems to insinuate, that even 



HISTORY OF MAJiYLAND. 53 

those who heard, or permitted such dangerous sect. 
speeches, would not themselves be entirely free ,^.,;^ 
from danger. He desired them to beware, lest, if 1578. 
they meddled faither with those matters, the queen 
might look to her own power ; and finding herself 
able to suppress their challenged liberty, and to ex- 
ert an arbitrary authority, might imitate the exam-^ 
pie of Louis XI, of France, who, as he termed it, 
delivered the crown from wardship." Upon this 
speech, the historian proceeds to observe : " Though 
it gave some disgust, nobody at the time replied 
any thing, but that Sir Humphrey mistook the mean- 
ing of the house, and of the member who made the 
motion : they never had any other purpose, than to 
represent their grievances, in due and seemly form, 
unto her majesty. But in a subsequent debate, 
Peter Wentworth, a man of superior free spirit, 
called that speech an insult on the house ; noted 
Sir Humphrey's disposition to flatter and fawni on 
the prince ; compared him to the cameleon, which 
can change itself into all colours, except white ; and 
recommended to the house a due care of liberty of 
speech, and of the privileges of parliament. It ap- 
pears, on the whole, that the motion against the ex- 
clusive patent had no effect. Bell, the member 
who first introduced it, was sent for by the council, 
and was severely reprimanded for his temerity. He 
returned to the house with such an amazed counte- 
nance, that all the members, well informed of the 
reason, were struck with terror ; and during some 
tin;e, no one durst rise to speak of any matters of 
importance, for fear of giving offence to the queen 
and the council. It is remai'kable, that the patent, 



54 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, which the queen defended with such imperious vio^ 

y^^,^^^^^ lence, was contrived for the profit of four courtiers, 

J578. and was attended with the utter ruin of seven or 

eight thousand of her industrious subjects.'*!'^ 

1579. We are to return, however, to the progress which 

His first gjj. Humphrey made, in carryins: into effect his char- 
voyage I J ' JO 

tinsiic- ter of colonisation. With the influence of his own 

cessful. 

character, and the zealous efforts of his half-brother, 
Walter Raleigh, who, even in his early youth, dis- 
played those splendid talents and that undaunted 
spirit, which create admiration and confidence. Sir 
Humphrey at first met with considerable encourage- 
ment. But as the time of embarkation approached, 
some of his associates beginning to form particular 
projects of their own, inconsistent with his general 
scheme, and others totally failing in the performance 
of their engagements, his preparations were much 
thwarted and delayed. He, however, put to sea 
with such of his friends as had adhered to their 
promises, among whom it is said, was liis brother 
Walter Raleigh. The voyage proved unfortunate, 
and was attended with the loss of one of his best 
ships, and several of his most esteemed friends. Nor 
is it quite certain that he arrived, in the course of this 
voyage, at any pai't of America; but it is supposed, 
that he met with a severe encounter with the Spa- 
niards, and was on that account obliged to return, f 
'5 3 As Sir Humphrey's patent was to expire at the 
cond end of six years from the date thereof, unless he 
voyage, j^^jjg some settlements under it, it soon became 

• Hume's Hist, of England, ch. 40. 
t Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2. p. 201. Holmes's Annalsi, 
Vol. l.p. 113. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 55 

necessary for him to resume his schemes, or relin- sect. 
quish them altogether. In the spring of the year ^}!\. 
1583^^1^ had again brought his design into some i5&^. 
order ;' but to furnish the necessary expenses there- 
of, he was obUged to sell what estate he had, though 
he had great assistance from his friends, and several 
gentlemen of rank and fortune agreed to go with 
him in person. With this view a small squadron 
was fitted out, consisting of five ships and vessels of 
different burthens, among which was one called the 
Raleigh, of 200 tons, fitted out by his brother Wal- 
ter Raleigh, though, it seems, he did not attend him 
in this second expedition. In all these vessels were 
shipped about two hundred and sixty men, among 
whom were shipwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, 
miners, and refiners. To complete the equipment 
of this colony, some singular circumstances were 
thought necessary, and may be here mentioned in 
the words of the original account of the voyage, as 
it is in Hackluyt; " Besides, for solace of our peo- 
ple, and allurement of the savages, we were provi- 
ded of musike in good varietie ; not omitting the 
least toyes, as moiris dancers, hobb}'-horse, and 
May-like conceits, to delight the savage people, 
whom \VG intended to winne by all faire means pos- 
sible. And to that end we were indifferently fur- 
nished of all pettie haberdasherie wares to barter 
with those simple people."* The resolution of the 
proprietors was, that the fleet should begin its course 
northerly, and follow as directly as they could the 
trade- way to Newfoundland, from whence, after hav- 
ing refreshed and supplied themselves with all ne- 

!» Holmes's Annals, Vd. 1. p. 1 13, quotes Hackluyt, iii, 149. 



56 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, cessaries, their intent was to proceed into the ^uthj 
>^^r-^^^^ and not to pass by any river or bay^<^ which in all 

1583. that large tract of land should appear aa orth their 
looking into. They likewise prescribed the orders 
to be oliserved in the voyage, and the course to be 
steered, which were delivered to the captains and 
masters of every ship in writing. On the 11th of 
June, 1583, the fleet sailed from Plymouth; but, 
on the thirteenth, their large ship, the Raleigh, un- 
der pretence that her captain and a great number of 
her men were suddenly taken ill of a contagious dis- 
ease, left the fleet and returned to Plymouth ; some 
say, in great distress, but others that it was done 
with a design to ruin the expedition. Of this cir- 
cumstance. Sir Humphrey, when he arrived in New- 
foundland, UTOte to one of his friends in England, 
with great resentment and asperity.* On the 30th 
of July they had sight of land in about 51° of north 
latitude. From thence they followed the coast to the 
south, till they came to the island Bacalaos. Contin- 
uing the same course southward, they came the same 
day, being the 3d of August, to the harbour of St. 
John. He found there several vessels, of different na- 
tions, to the amount of thirty-six sail,lyingin the har- 
bour and fishing therein. They seemed at first dispo- 
sed to refuse him an entrance into the harbour. But 
Sir Humphrey, after preparing to make good his pas- 
sage b}' force of lU'ms, first sent in his boat to inform 
the masters of those vessels, that he had a commis- 
sion from the queen to take possession of these 
lands for the crown of England. They were satis- 
fied, and submitted to the levying a tax of provi- 
* See note (E) at the end of this volume. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 57 

* 

sions Irom cacli ship, for supplying the wants of Sir sect. 
Humphrey's small squadron. \^r-^rKj 

On the fourth of August, Sir Humphrey, whom losj. 
they called the general, and his company, was con- J^^^^l, 
ducted on shore by the masters of the Ensrlish fishing; «'"" ^^' 

J K3 Kj New- 

vessels, and their owners or merchants, who were found- 
with them. On the fifth, the general having caused 
a tent to be set up in view of all the ships in the har- 
bour, to the number of between 30 and 40 sail, and 
being accompanied by all his captains, masters, gen- 
tlemen, and soldiers, summoned all the merchants and 
miasters, both English and foreigners, to be present 
at his taking a formal and solemn possession of those 
territories. Being assembled, he caused his commis- 
sion, under the great seal of England, to be openly 
read before them, and to be interpreted to those who 
W'Cre strangers to the English tongue. By virtue of 
this commission, he declared that he took posses- 
sion of the harbour of St. John, and two hundred 
leagues every way; invested her majesty with the 
title and dignity thereof, and having had (according 
to custom) a rod and turf of soil delivered to him, 
entered and took possession also for himself, his 
heirs, and assigns forever. He signified to those 
who were present, and through them to all men, 
that from thenceforward they should look upon 
those territories as appertaining to the queen of En- 
gland, and himself, authorized, under her majesty, 
to possess and enjoy them, with power to ordain 
laws for the government thereof, agreeable (as near 
as conveniently could be) to the laws of England, 
under which all people coming thither for the fu- 
ture, cither to inhal)it or by way of traffic, should 

H 



58 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, submit and be eoverned. He then published three 

IT 

■.^^^-..^-^^ hwvs for the government of the territoiy. By the 
1524. first, public worship was established according to 
the church of England; by the second, the attempt- 
ing of anything prejudicial to her majest}''s title, was 
declared treason, according to the laws of England; 
by the third, the uttering of woi^ds to the dishonour 
of her majesty, was to be punished with the loss of 
ears and the confiscation of property. To all this, 
the multitude then present, as well strangers as En- 
glishmen, assented, it is said, by a general voice. 
The assembly was then dismissed, and not far from 
the same place a pillar of wood was erected, to 
which was infixed a plate of lead, with the arms of 
lL,ngland engraven thereon. For the further esta- 
blishment of this possession so taken, the general 
granted " in fee fai^me" several parcels of land lying 
by the water side, both in the harbour of St. John, 
and elsewhere, with a reservation of a certain rent 
and service unto Sir Humphrey Gilbert, his heirs^ 
or assigns for ever. 

Some writers have attributed all this solemnity to 
a high degree of vanity in the ^vest country knight; 
and have ridiculed his pretences to improve the trade 
of the kingdom, and enlarge the queen's dominions 
by cutting a turf; in -which, however, they injure 
this gentleman's memory extremely ; for, the plain 
reason of Sir Humphrey's conduct throughout this 
affair, Avas his anxiety to give some effect to his grant, 
\vhich was perpetual to him, and his heirs, in case 
he took possession of any countries within six years, 
as before mentioned, and otherwise it was void. 
There were now but a few months of this period to 
come. He had sold his estate in England, and it 



HISTORY OF MAR\XAND. 59 

concerned him \'ery nearly to secure an estate some- sect., 
where else ; and tlierefore this parade was not from ^^,r-^r->^ 
any principle of vanity, but from justifiable pru- ^^^•''■ 
dence and good economy, especially under the full 
expectation, as we may suppose him to have then 
been, of settling a colony in that part of the country. 
The important public consequences, also, which 
are said by later writers to have flowed from his con- 
duct herein, will effectually do a\vay all ridicule at- 
tending it. This formal possession now taken, in 
consequence of the prior discovery by Cabot, has 
been considered by the English as the foundation 
of the right and title of the crown of England to 
the territory of Newfoundland, and to the fishery oti 
its banks. It is perhaps unnecessary to add, that their 
powerful navy has enabled them to support this right, 
however flimsy and exceptionable it may appear. 

Sir Humphrey remained at St. John's some time, is logt q^ 
to collect a tax of provisions, granted to him by Jo^En^^"'"' 
every ship which fiished upon the coast adjoining, to *''"'^- 
repair his ships, and in the mean time to explore 
the island. They found no inhabitants in the south- 
ern part of the island, the natives having probably 
abandoned it on its being so much frequented by 
Europeans; but in the northern there were some 
savages who appeared to be harmless and inoffensive 
in their tempers and dispositions. He now resolved 
to proceed in his discoveries southward ; and accord- 
ingly sailed, on the 20th of August, from the hai'- 
bour of St. John's. Pursuing this route for some 
days, they found themselves on the 29th of the 
month in the midst of dangerous shoals, in latitude 
44°, somewhere about Nova Scotia or Cape Breton. 
Here they lost one of theh' best ships, in which pe 



60 IXTRODUCTIOX, 5cc. 

Si'ic.T. rishcd near a hundred persons. Of this number 
K^r-^-^^ was Stephen Parmenius Budeius, a learned Hunga- 
15J6. rian, \a ho had accompanied the adventurers to record 
their discoveries and exploits. After this loss, the 
men being generally discouraged and in want of 
necessaries, Sir Humphrey proposed returning to 
England, having, in his judgment, made discove- 
ries sufficient to procure assistance enough for a new 
voyage, in the succeeding spring. His people, 
when he made this proposal, were at first reluctant 
in their assent to it; but upon hearing his reasons, 
they submitted; and, according to his advice, on 
. the last of August, they altered their course and 
steered for England. When they left St. John's, 
Sir Humphrey had embarked himself on board of 
the smallest vessel he had with him, which was only 
of ten tons burthen, thinking her the fittest for ob- 
serving and discovering the coast. In a few days 
after they had taken their departure from Cape Race, 
the most eastern promontory of Newfoundland, they 
met Avith violent storms, attended with heavy seas, 
which so small a ^x'ssel was unable to sustain. 
About midnight, on the 9th of September, the men 
in the larger ship, having watched the lights in the 
small vessel in which Sir Humphrey was, observed 
them to be suddenly extinguished. It was suppo- 
sed, that she sunk that instant, for she was never 
afterwards heard of. Thus perished a man, whose 
spirit of adventure certainly contributed much, at 
least by example, to the early population of British 
America, and whose genius and talents entitled him 
to better fortune.* 

• Harris's Voyages, Vol, 2, p. 199, 200, Holmes's Annals, 
Vol. 1, p. 113. 



SECTION III. 

Sir Walter Raleigh — his rise and character — obtains a renewal of Sir 
Humphrey's letters patent to himself — Voyage of capts. Amidas 
and Barlow. — The effects of their voyage in England — Sir Richard 
Grenville's attempt to settle a colony in North Carolina. 

THE laudable schemes of Sir Humphrey Gil- sect. 
bert, happily for mankind, did not expire with him. v^^-^-n^ 
His half and younger brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, i584. 
as he appeared to inherit his useful qualities, seemed ^^![. ^^^}' 
also to become heir to his pursuits. He was at this 'eigh, his 
period of time in high favour with the queen. Some character. 
writers seem to insinuate, that most of Queen Eli- 
zabeth's favourites were remarkable for their per- 
sonal attractions. All historians who speak of Sir 
Walter appear to agree that he was conspicuous in 
his time, not only for the symmetry of his form and 
the manliness of his deportment, but for his insinua- 
ting address with the ladies. Although most au- 
thors place the era of his rise at court about this 
time, }-et they do not agree so exactly in assigning 
the cause of it. The military eclat which he had, a 
a year or two before, acquired in Ireland, where he 
commanded a company under Lord Grey, against 
the Spaniards and Irish rebels, was, according to 
some, the cause of his being known at court. 
Others would have the earl of Leicester to Ivave 
been the chief agent in his rise, who, being in the 
decline of life himself, thought that he might still 
continue to govern the queen, through the interme- 



62 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, diate agency of Sir Walter's youthful form and 
s^-sr^^ pleasing manners. Others again, attribute his in- 
1584. troduction at court to the influence of RatclifFe, earl 
of Sussex, in order to supersede his great enemy, 
the earl of Leicester, himself. But his biographer, 
in a small tract of his life, prefixed to his History of 
the World,* thinks it proper to lay some stress on 
a ridiculous incident, which as he supposes, might 
have been one cause of his aggrandizement. For 
the mention of this he apologizes, by remarking, 
that " little transactions are often the best inlets to 
truth and the mysteries of state ;" and thus relates 
k : "Our captain (Raleigh) coming over out of 
Ireland upon the aforementioned cause to court, in 
very good habit, (which it seems was the greatest 
part of his estate,) which is often found to be no 
mean introducer where deserts are not known, found 
the queen walking, till she was stopt by a plashy 
place, which she scrupled treading on ; presently he 
spread his new plush coat on the ground, on which 
the queen gently trod, being not a little pleased, as 
well as surprised, with so unexpected a compli- 
ment. Thus, as one remarks upon this story, an 
advantageous admission into the first notices of a 
prince, is more than half a degree to preferment.^ 
For he presently after found some gracious beams 
of favour reflecting on him, which he was resolved, 
and well knew how, to cherish and contract. To 

* This tract here cited, does not appear to be the one writ- 
ten by Oldys, but one prior to it, printed in 1 687. 

t Fuller's Worthies. 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 63 

put the queen in remembrance, he wrote in a win- sect. 
dow obvious to her eye, ^.^^^s^ 

« Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall ; 1^84. 

which her majesty either espying or being shown, 
under- wrote this answer, 

" If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." 
Whichever of the foregoing causes be adopted, and 
it is probable that they all might have combined in 
his promotion, it is very certain, that he stood 

HIGH AT THIS TIME IN THE FAVOUR OF THE 
(^UEEN.* 

Sir Walter, thus placed in a familiar intercourse He ob- 
with royal authority, would naturally be led to avail newai of 
himself of his situation, in carrying into effect the pbr^^J"" 
honourable schemes of his brother Sir Humphrey i^^^rs pa> 
Gilbert ; especially when those schemes were not himself, 
only congenial to a young and ambitious mind, but 
were also the means of recommendation to the pa- 
troness of his fortunes. t Having maturely digested 

* See note (F) at the end of the volume. 

t It would seem, that at this time, considerable foreign 
trade was carried on in the west of England, particularly in 
Devonshire, by some merchants and others, resident in that 
part of the country. Indeed, as will be seen hereafter, in the 
course of this work, the settlements of Virginia and New 
England, were principally owing to them. Among these 
p\iblic-spirited persons, the Gilbert and Raleigh family of 
that county seems conspicuous. It was in the year 1584, 
(new style), February 6th, a little more than a month prior to 
the grant to Sir Walter, that letters patent were granted to 
Mr. Adrian Gilbert, " of Sandridge, in the county of Devon, 
gentleman ;" (whom we may suppose to have been a full 
brother to Sir Humphrey, and half brother to Sir Walter Ra- 
leigh,) and others, for the search and discovery of a passage 



64 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, a plan for the discovery and settlement of diose 
s.,,^-^^^^^ parts of North America, lying north of the Gulf of 
1584. Mexico, and which were as yet unknown and un- 
settled by the Spaniards, he laid it before the queen 
and council ; to whom it appeared a rational and 
practicable undertaking. He, therefore, easily ob- 
tained a renewal of letters patent to himself, in as 
ample form, and containing nearly the same clauses 
and provisions as in that to his brother Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert.* As the monarchs of England, not 

to China and the Molucca Isles, " by the northwarde, north- 
eastwarde, or northwarde," creating them a corporation by the 
name of " The colleagues of the fellowship, for the discoverrc 
of the north-west passage." (See the letters patent at large 
,, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 28.) But this grant was 

in some measure superseded by a like project set on foot 
about the same time in London, under the patronage of Mr. 
WiUiam Sanderson, an eminent merchant of that city. The 
two associations uniting, captain John Davis was sent out for 
that purpose, in the year 1585, to the northern coasts of Ame- 
rica ; who made considerable discoveries in that part of the 
American continent since called Davis's Straits. (See Harris's 
Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 203.) The reader's attention may be in- 
terrupted for a moment, in noticing a remarkable clause in 
these letters patent, to Adrian Gilbert : mutiny on board the 
ships, while on their voyage, was to be punished, '* as the 
cause shall be found, in justice to require, by the verdict of 
twelve of the companie, sworne thereunto ;" that is, by a jury 
selected from the ships company. 

» They bear date the 25th of March, 26th of Eliz. (1584, 
new style,) and are nearly verbatim the same as the before- 
mentioned patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert. One small va- 
riance between them may be noted : in the clause granting 
power to Sir Walter, to capture all such vessels as shall be 
found trafficking within the limits of his grant, without his 
license, exception is made of " the subjects of our realms and 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 65 

only of the Tudor line, but afterwards of the Stuarts,^ sect. 
were unwilling to be dependant on their parliaments v^Jl^J^Lj 
for their revenues ; they- were, therefore, generally i584. 
too poor and needy, to assist with money in the pro- 
motion of such laudable enterprises, as the one no\V 
contemplated by Raleigh. With their' pntentsfor 
exclusive trade, especially with those which pro- 
mised any emolument to the crown, they were ex- 
tremely liberal. Hence, mompolies Were among the 
most grievous burthens, and the most frequent sub- 
ject of complamt, even during the popular reign of 
Elizabeth. Sh* Walter was, iherefore, obliged to 
have recourse to the assistance of private indivi- 
duals, to enable him to pursue his schemes. Be- 
fore he had obtained his patent, he had formed an 
association of his friends*, and had prevailed on se- 
veral merchants and gentlemen, to advance large 
sunis of money towards carrying on his designs. f 
Accordingly, within a month after the date of his' 
patent, he was enabled to fit out two ships, under- 
the command of captains Philip Amidas and Arthur 

dominions, and all other persons in amitie with us, trading to 
the JVewfoundlands for fishing, as heretofore they have com- 
monly used." This exception is not in the patent to Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert. See them at large in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 33. 

* Among these were Sir Richard Grenville, his kinsman, 
and Sir W. Sanderson, who had married his niece. Burk's 
Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 45. The latter gentleman was, 
probably, the same as the one before mentioned, who was con- 
cerned with Adrian Gilbert, in the discovery of a north-west 
passage. 

t Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. I, p. 210, 
Mod. Univ. Hist, Vol. 39, p. 235. 

I 



66 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. Barlow, to visit the countries which he intended to 

111. 
\^,'^,r>u settle, and to acquire some previous knowledge of 

1584. their coasts, their soil, and productions. 

captains They Sailed for the west of England on the 27th 

and Bar- of April followiug ; and to avoid the error of Sir 

low. Humphrey Gilbert, in holding too far north, they 

shaped their course for the Canaries, which they 

passed on the tenth of June,* and proceeding from 

thence to the West Indies, they crossed the Gulf of 

Mexico, and on the second of July, fell in with the 

coast of Florida. They sailed along this coast, till 

they came, on the 13th of the month, to a river, 

where they anchored; and going on shore, took 

possession in right of the queen, and for the use of 

tiie proprietors. They went to the tops of the hills 

which were nearest to the shore, from whence, 

though they were not high, they discovered the sea 

on all sides, and found the place where they landed, 

to be an island of about fifteen miles in length and 

six in breadtl>; then called by the natives, Woko- 

ken.f 

• Another reason for this course is said to be thus expres* 
sed in the account of this voyage, written by Barlow : " Be- 
cause we doubted that the current of the Bay of Mexico, be- 
tween the Capes of Florida and Havannah, was much stronger 
than we afterwards found it to be." Burk's Hist, of Virginia, 
Vol. 1, p. 46. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 236. 

t The disagreement and confusion among all the writers on 
this voyage, as to the topography of the places referred to, 
render it almost impossible to ascertain with precision where 
this island was situated, or what river it was which they first 
entered. A passage cited (by Burk in his history of Virgi- 
nia, Vol. 1, p. 46,) from Barlow's letter to Sir Walter Ra- 
leigh, preserved by Hackliiyt,is supposed to throw some light 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. Qf 

On the third day after their arrival and landing, sect. 

Ill 
they saw three of the natives in a canoe, one of v.^%<->^ 

whom went on shore and waited, without any signs 1584. 

of apprehension, the approach of a boat from the 

ships, which was sent to him. He spoke long and 

earnestly to them, m his own language, and then 

went with them on board, without any apparent 

fear. They gave him a shirt and hat, and some 

wine and meat, with all which he seamed pleased. 

After he had, with a seeming satisfaction, narrowly 

viewed the ships, and examined every part with his 

eyes and touch, he went in his canoe, to about a 

quarter of a mile's distance, where he fished, and 

returned in a short time, with his canoe loaded with 

fish ; which he divided equally in two heaps, and 

making signs that each vessel should take one, he 

departed. 

The next day several canoes appeared in view ; 

in one of which came the king's brother, whose 

name was Granganemeo, attended with about forty 

men. The king himself, whose name was Win- 

upon the subject ; wherein he says, that he, (Barlow) " with 
seven others, went in a boat, twenty miles into the river Oc- 
cam, and the evening following, came to an island called 
Roanoke, distant from the harbour by which we entered, seve7i 
leagues." Stith (in his Hist, of Virginia,) seems to think that 
this island called Wokoken, must have been that now called 
Ocracocke. Beverly, (in his Hist, of Virginia,) says, " they 
anchored at an inlet by Roanoke." What is said also in the 
accounts of the subsequent voyages of Sir Richard Grenville 
to Roanoke, and the reliefof the colony by Sir Francis Drake, 
seems to confirm the opinion, that Wokoken and Ocracocke 
were one and the same island ; and the river where they an- 
chored, Roanoke inlet. 



68 INTRODUCTION TO A 

Sect, eina,* lay ill of the wounds he had received in bat- 
III. . . 

^.yy^ tie, with a neighbouring nation. The behaviour of 

1584. Granganemeo, when he approached the ships, is best 
described in-the very words of the original account of 
the voyage, as preserved in Hackluyt. " The maner 
of his comming was in this sort ; hee left his boates 
altogether as the first man did (the day before) a 
little from the shippes by the shore, and came along 
to the place over against the shippes, followed with 
fortie men. When Jie came to the place, his ser- 
vants spread along matte upon the ground, on which 
-he satte downe ; and at the other end of the matte, 
foure others of his companie did the like, the rest 
of his men stood round about him, somewhat a farre 
off: when we canie to the shwe to him, with our 
weapons,- hee never moved from his place, nor any 
of the other foure, nor never mistrusted any harme 
to be offered from us ; but sitting still, he beckoned 
us to come and sit by him, which we performed : 
,and being set, hee made all signs of joy and wel- 
come*' 'f Our navigators made to him and his four 
chiefs, presents of several toys, which he kindly 
accepted ; but he took all himself, and gave them 
to understand, that none there had a right to any 
thing but himself. Tvv:o days afterwards they let 
him see their merchandise ; of which nothing seem- 
ed to please -him more than a pewter dish, for 
which he gave twenty deer-skins ; and making a 
hole in the rim of it, hung it over his neck for a 

* The country was called by tl>e natives, Wingadocia, in 
respect possibly tp th.e.i'^ig,ning_fi.hief, Wingina. 
t See Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 117. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 6» 

breast-plate, making signs that it would defend him sect. 
against the enemy's arrows. The next thing he v,.,,^^^-^ 
bought was a copper kettle, for which he gave fifty 1584. 
skins. As long as he thought fit to traffic with 
ithem, none but such as like him, wore plates of 
gold or copper on their heads, were allowed either to 
buy or sell; but as soon as they had done, every 
man had his liberty. They offered very good ex- 
change for hatchets, axes, and knives ; and would 
have given any thing in truck for swords, but the 
English would not part with any. Granganemeo 
came afterwards frequently on board, and would 
eat, drink, and be merry with them ; and once he 
brought his wife and children with him, who after- 
wards came frequently with her followers only. The 
English often trusted him with goods upon his 
word, to bring the value at a certain time, which he 
never failed in doing. He had a strong inclination 
to have a suit of armour and a sword, which he saw 
in one of the ships ; and would have left a large box 
of pearls in pawn for them ; but they refused it, that 
he might not know they set a value upon them, till 
they could discover whence he got them. He sup- 
plied them every day with venison, fish, and fruits ; 
and invited them to his habitation on Roanoke is- 
land. After this friendly intercourse, captain Bar- 
low, with seven of his men, went in a boat twenty 
miles into the river Occam, (supposed to be the 
same as Pampticoe sound,) and the evening follow- 
ing came to the isle of Roanoke, at the mouth of 
Albemarle sound, where they found a village, the 
residence of Granganemeo, situated in the northern 
extremity of the island, and consisting of nine 



70 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, houses, built of cedar, and fortified with sharp pali- 
^^^.^^^ sades. When the English arrived there in their 
1584. boat, Granganemeo was absent ; but his wife re- 
ceived them with generous hospitality. Their boat 
she ordered to be drawn on shore, that she might 
not be injured by the surge ; the oars, for better se- 
curity, were taken to her house ; while the English, 
by her orders, were conveyed from their boat on the 
backs of the natives. She took off then* stockings, 
and washed their feet in warm water. When dinner 
was ready, she led them into an inner room, where 
they were feasted with venison, fish, fruit, and ho- 
mini.* Whilst they were eating, some of her peo- 
ple came in with their bows and arrows. The 
English, suspecting treachery, flew to their arms ; 
but the wife of Granganemeo, perceiving their sus- 
picions, ordered the bows to be taken from her 
people, their arrows to be broken, and themselves 

* I find this dish, so well known both in Maryland and Vir- 
ginia as a great delicacy, though borrowed from the aborigines 
of the country, spelt as above by the latest historian of Vir- 
ginia, Burk, (Vol. 1, p. 47,) who cites Stith on this occasion. 
I have never understood, that the word was of Indian origin. 
It is, more probably, a corruption of the French word omelet, 
and now spelt " homini," according to the sound as pro- 
nounced by us. An omelet with the French, a nation celebra- 
ted for their knowledge in the science of cookery, means a 
kind of pancake or fricassee of eggs, with other ingredients. 
It is derived, according to the learned Mr. de la Mothe de 
Vayer, from the two words auf, eg^^ and meler, mingled. 
But the forms of omelets among them are various. There 
are omelets of green pease. So with us, a dish oi fried ho- 
ming may be called an omelet of maize. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 71 

to be beaten out of the house. In the evening,* the sect. 
English thought it prudent to return to their boat, ^_^^^:^^ 
and having put off at a small distance from the shore, i584. 
lay at anchor. This generous woman seemed hurt 
by this precaution; but had a supper dressed for 
them and delivered at the boat's side, with the pots 
in which it was cooked. Perceiving their continued 
distrust, she ordered several men and thirty women 
to sit on the bank, as a guard to them through the 
night, and sent several mats to screen them from the 
weather. 

This island is said to have been the limit of their 
discovery during this voyage, nor were they fortu- 
nate enough to procure any information, except a 
confused account from the Indians of the wreck of 
some ship on the coast, between twenty and thirty 
years before. f 

Having loaded their ships with furs, sassafras, 
and cedar, and procured a small quantity of pearl, 
which was supposed to be an evident sign of the 
great riches of the country,^ they returned to Eng- 

• There seems to be some difficulty in reconciling the time:, 
of Barlow's arrival at Roanoke island, in the evening, accord- 
ing to his own account, as before cited, and the time here 
above mentioned, of their retiring to their boat If they 
arrived in the evening' at the island, there certainly was not 
time sufficient for all the circumstances above mentioned to 
have been acted before they retired to their coat. I have, 
however, related it as I find it in several respectable histo- 
rians. See Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol, 1 . p. 50. Holmes's 
Annals, Vol. 1, p. 118. 

t Burk's Hist of Virginia, idid. 

i It is said, they also brought home with them some tobac- 
co, the first that was seen in England. Oldmiscon's British Em- 



72 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. land about the middle of September, carrying with 
\^^->r>,^ them two of the natives, whose names were Manteo 
1584. and Wanchese, who voluntarily accompanied them.* 
Theef- The adventurers in this voyage, on their return, 
their voy- Spread abroad marvellous accounts of their disco- 
gfand. "* veries. To those who are now well acquainted with 
that part of the continent which Amidas and Barlow 
visited, the description which they gave of it on their 
return can be considered only as a scarcely plausible 
fiction, principally intended to induce future adven- 
turers. Their accounts, however, of the beauty of 
the country, the fertility of the soil, the mildness of 
the climate, and the innocence of the natives, were 
pictured and represented to the queen so much in 
the style of the scenerj^ of a romance, that her ma- 
jesty was graciously pleased, it is said, to promise 
what assistance it should be necessary for the crowii 
to give towards promoting a settlement there. Sir 
Walter Raleigh, with the gallantry of a courtier, in 
compliment to his mistress — a virgin queen, thought 
it proper to bestow on this new discovered paradise 
the name of Virginia. Others, though with less 
probability, attribute that denomination to the queen 
herself, because she fancied, that it exhibited man- 

pire in America, Vol. 1, p. 211. Although the introduction 
of tobacco into England is generally referred to the time of 
governour Lane and his colonists, as hereafter mentioned, yet 
it is not probable that capts. Amidas and Barlow would have 
omitted, not only to notice a custom then in common use 
with the Indians, but also to bring with them a sample of 
such a remarkable vegetable. It would seem, however, that 
tobacco was first brought into England by Sir John Hawkins 
in 1565. See Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 124. 
• * Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 201. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 73 

kind in their primitive innocence, and the creation in sect. 
its first virghi purity and plenty.* s-<^->^-s»/ 

Encouraged by the reports of his navigators, wSir 1585. 
Walter hastened his preparations for taking posses- ^jlj"; ^^ren- 
sion of this inviting propcrt}-. It was his first intention "^^^^^^ ^^^ 
to have commanded in this expedition himself, and to settle a co. 

lony 111 N. 

have carried with him a sufficient number of forces Carolina, 
to have completed his design of making a settle- 
ment there ; but being at that time jealous, that his 
absence might be prejudicial to his interest at court, 
he committed the care of this second enterprise to 
Sir Richard Grenville, his relation,t who was inter- 
ested with him in his patent, before mentioned, ob- 
tained from Elizabeth 4 Sir Richard, with seven 
small ships, laden with provision, arms, ammuni- 
tion, and spare men, to settle a colony, with the 

• Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 211. 
Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 202. 

t It has been supposed, that Sir Walter Raleigh himself went 
to Virginia with this colony ; but this mistake, it appears, 
has arisen from a mistranslation of a passage in Heriot's nar- 
rative, published in Hackluyt's Voyages. !t is thus expressed 
in the original English : " The actions of those who have been 
by Sir Walter Raleigh therein employed ;" which is thus ren- 
dered in the Latin translation : " qui generosum D. Walte- 
rum Raleigh in eam regionem comitati sunt" See Burk's 
Hist, of Virg. Vol. 1, p. 55. 

\ Oldmixon, in his British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 
212, speaks of this expedition as carried on by a company^ 
and that it was the first of that kind established in Europe. 
But it seems, that they were not a regular corporate body, 
until the reign of king James, who incorporated them by the 
name of " The governor and company of the West Indies." 
They were afterwards dissolved by Charles I, it is said, for 
their mal-administration. Harris's Voyages, Vol 2, p. 202. 

K 



74 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, two Indians before mentioned, Wanchese and Man- 
,^^^,.,^^^^ teo, to assist him in his negociations with their 
1585. countrymen, sailed on the 9th of April, 1585, from 
Plymouth.* But, induced by a desire of sharing 
in the plunder of a predatory war, then carried on 
by the English against the Spaniards, in capturing 
their vessels bound home with the treasures of their 
Mexican mines, as well as from unacquaintance 
with a more direct and shorter course to North 
America, he took the southern route by the West 
India islands. He spent some time in cruising 
among these, and in taking prizes; so that it was 
.towards the close of June, before he arrived on the 
coast of North America. It is said, that in going 
into the harbour of Wokoken, he lost the ship 
which he himself commanded.! He touched at 
both the islands where Amidas and Barlow had 
landed. Mantco, the faithful Indian whom they 
had carried to England, and was now brought back 
with Sir Richard, became of essential service. His 
knowledge of the language made him useful as an 
interpreter, while his attachment to the persons of 
the English smoothed the difficulties to a free and 
friendly intercourse with his countrymen. Under 

* It is said, that Sir Richard was accompanied in this voy- 
age by the celebrated circumnavigator Sir Thomas Cavendish, 
who, being then a young man of family and fortune, fitted 
out a ship of 1 20 tons burthen, called the Tyger, at his own 
expense, in which he attended Sir Richard, without any pro- 
fit. Harris's Voyages, Vol. 1, p. 23. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 
2, p. 411. 

t Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 59, p. 236. In Burk's Hist, of 
Virg. Vol. 1, p. 53, it is said, that " he narrowly escaped ship- 
wreck on Cape Fear." 



UISTORY OF MARYLAND. 7-5 



his guidance they made several excursions, and vi- sect. 
sited several villages on the islands and the main. In ,^,^ 
one of these excursions, Sir Richard went, attended isss. 
by a number of his officers, to an Indian town on 
the continent, called by some Scroton, by others 
Aquaseogok,* where he was hospitably received by 
the inhabitants; but some of them having pilfered 
a silver cup from the English, of which no restitu- 
tion was made, Sir Richai-d gave loose to an impru- 
dent revenge, plundered one of the Indian towns, 
and destroyed their corn-fields, and was forced to 
avoid the rage of the natives by immediate embar- 
kation. At this juncture of time, no conduct in 
him could have been more impolitic, and might 
well forebode the disastrous conclusion of this first 
attempt at colonisation. After this outrage, Sir 
Richard sailed to Hatteras, where he was visited by 
Granganemeo, the prince who had been so friendly 
to Amidas and Barlow, the preceding year, and 
who was, on this occasion, accompanied by Man- 
teo. Of what passed between Granganemeo and 
Grenville at this interview, the journal of the voy- 
age, it is said, gives no account ; but it is suppo- 
sed, that the setdement of the English in the coun- 
try, at least of the island of Roanoke, was then 
agreed on between them, to their mutual satisfac- 
tion.! Sir Richard then sailed for that island, and 
having fixed upon it for the site of his settlement, 
he remained there for the space of six weeks, pro- 
bably to see the colony somewhat arranged and set- 

* Bulk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 54. 
t Oldy's Life of Raleigh, cited in Holmes's Annals, Vol 
1, p. 119, note 3. 



t$ INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, tied before his departure. The colony consisted of 
^.^,^->,,.>^^ one hundred and eight men;* Mr. Ralph Lane, 
1535. being their governour, and captain Philip Amidas, 
titular admiral of the country. Thomas Heriot, a 
celebrated mathematician, and John Wythe, an in- 
genious painter, Avere also of the number of these 
colonists, t Having disposed all things for . his de- 
parture, Sir Richard set sail for England on the 
25th of August. He shaped his course, it seems, 
so as to keep in view the American continent which 
lies between Currituck inlet and the Chesapeake ; 
but nothing is mentioned of any discoveries thereby 
made by him. He arrived at Plymouth on the 
18th of September follo\A'ing, with a rich Spanish 

• In Robertson's Hist, of America, b. 9, it is said, that there 
were one hundred and eighty men ; but that is evidently a 
mistake eitiier in himself or the press, by transposing the 
figures 108 to 180, or by adding the letter y to the word 
eight. The list, published in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 
38, contains 107 persons, which with governour Lane, would 
complete the number 108, mentioned by Oldmixon, Harris, 
and the Mod. Univ. Hist. 

t Mr. Heriot wrote a topographical description of this part 
of Virginia (now called North Carolina,) and its natural his- 
tory, which is preserved in Hackluyt's Voyages. It was 
translated into Latin by Theodore de Bry, and published in 
his collection of voyages. It is said, that the famous French 
philosopher, Descartes, borrowed much of his light from this 
excellent mathematician ; and that the learned Dr. Wallis 
gave his preference to Heriot's improvements before those of 
Descartes, although the latter had the advantage of being suc- 
cessor to the former. Mr. Wythe also made several draw- 
ings of the figures and dress of the natives, of which copper- 
plates were afterwards taken and published by de Bry in 1590, 
with Latin explanations of them. Burk's Hist, of Virginia, 
Vol. 1, p. 55. 



HI3T0RY OF MARYLAND. 17 

prize, which he had taken on the passage. His sect. 
proceedings appear to have been highly satisfactory ^^^^^^ 
to his employers, or ^vhat was then called, The ne^v 1535. 
Virginia Company. 

Soon after the departure of the ships, govcrnour 
Lane began to make preparation for obtaining a 
more extensive knowledge of the country. With 
this view, he proceeded in his boats along the coast 
to the southward, to an Indian town called Secoton, 
by their reckoning, distant from Roanoke eighty 
miles, and lying between the rivers Neus and Pamp- 
ticoe. To the north they advanced one hundred and 
thirty miles, to the Chesapeakes, a nation of Indians 
seated on a small river, now called Elizabeth, which 
falls into the great bay of Chesapeake, below Nor- 
folk.* To the north-west, they went up x\lbemarle 
sound and Chowan river, one hundred and thirty 
miles, to a nation of Indians called the Chowanocks, 
inhabiting a little beyond the fork of that river, where 
one branch takes the name of Meherrin, and the 
other of Nottoway. The king of this nation, Me- 
natonon, is represented by the adventurers, to have 
been shrewd beyond the cunning of any of the In- 
dians they had seen. Having collected from tlie 
inquiries of the English, the principal subjects of 
their search, he anmsed govcrnour Lane and his 
company, with the story of a copper mine and a 

• In the Indian language, the word Chemfieake is said to 
signify, Mother of Waters. The obvious application of this 
name to the great bay so called, would seem to intimate, that 
this Indian nation must have taken their name from their si- 
tuation near the Chesapeake bay. See Burk's Hist, of Vir- 
ginia, Vol. 1, p. 56, who cites Stith. 



78 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, pearl fishery, and with the marvellous description of 
\,,^-sr>^ ^^^ source of the Moratuck, now called Roanoke ; 
3585. which he represented as springing out of a rock, so 
near the sea, that in high winds the surge beat over 
it. Added to this, there seems to have been at this 
time a general rumour among the Indians, perhaps 
designedly propagated by them, of a rich mine, that 
lay in the interior part of the country high up the 
Moratuck. Filled with these delusive hopes, the 
governour now prepared for an expedition up this 
river, under the full expectation of exploring these 
advantageous discoveries, and of taking immediate 
possession of this fancied source of u ealth. It is 
necessary to observe, that Whigina, the Indian king 
before mentioned, who appears to have been sove- 
reign of the country about the mouth of the Roa- 
noke river, had been always secretly inimical to the 
English, or to their settling in the country, and was 
restricted in the exercise of his animosity to them, 
only by the influence of the friendly Granganemeo 
his brother. This did not, however, prevent him 
from injuring them, whenever he could do it with 
secresy; and it may be inferred from circumstances, 
that he acted on this occasion, in concert with Me- 
natonon. Immediatel}^ before the English set out 
upon their expedition, the artful Wingina despatched 
messengers to the several nations of Indians, who 
inhabited the banks of the Moratuck, to apprize 
them of their intended excursion, and to spread 
amongst them suspicions of the evil views and in- 
tentions of the English. Lane pursued his course 
in boats, up the Moratuck ; but, strangely confi- 
ding in this treacherous prince, whp, the better to 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. i?9 

deceive him, had furnished him with sruides, he had sect. 

. . .... HI. 

neglected to take any provisions with him, imagm- v^-no^^ 
ing he should be supplied by the natives on each i585. 
bank. The consequence of which was, that he 
soon became reduced to extreme difficulties. After 
rowing four days against a strong current, he found 
the country wholly deserted, and laid waste by the 
inhabitants. Still, however, in hopes of better for- 
tune, he pursued his course under the auspices of 
his guides, until at length they had nothing to sub- 
sist on but the flesh of two large dogs, which they 
were compelled to eat. Their perseverance being 
now wearied out, they returned to Roanoke island 
much chagrined and disappointed.* 

In addition to the foregoing disappointment, they 
had, on their return, the disagreeable intelligence of 
the death of prince Granganemeo, which happened 
during their excursion. While this friendly Indian 
lived, his influence, supported by the authority of 
Ensenore, their father, had, as before observed, re- 
strained the animosity of Wingina. It is not diffi- 
cult to account for this authority of Granganemeo, 
if we believe that their manner of descent was simi- 
lar to that of the other tribes of North American 
Indians. The brother of the reigning chief was 
heir apparent, and succeeded to the sovereignty in 
bar of the children of the chief. f This rule of de- 
scent might probably be founded on a very substan- 
tial reason, under a government purely military. It 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 239. Burk's Hist, of Vir- 
ginia, Vol. I, p. 57. 

t Burk (Hist, of Virginia, Vol. I, p. 58,) cites, in support 
of this, tlie instance of Powhatati, in Virginia, 



80 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, would in such case be obviously necessary, that the 



III 



reigning chief should be capable of discharging the 
J 585. military duties of his station ; which an infant or 
minor, would be incapable of performing. This 
reason might also apply to an explanation of Win- 
gina's authority as a sovereign during tlie life of his 
father, Ensenore ; who, now grown old and infirm, 
and incapable of going into battle with his enemies, 
might ha\'e delegated, if not totally resigned his 
power into the hands of his eldest son, Wingina. 
Another circumstance, arising on the death of Gran- 
ganemeo, deserves to be noticed here ; it seems to 
have been a custom, generally prevalent w ith the In- 
dians of this part of America and Virginia, to change 
their name, when any extraordinary change took place 
either in their circumstances or feelings.* On this 
occasion Wingina assumed the name of Pemisapan, 
the etymology of which had probably some allusion 
either to tlie event or its consequences ; and by this 
name alone he is designated n^y some historians. 

During the absence of the governour, it had beea 
reported that he and his party were lost ; and the 
little influence, which Ensenore, (who upon all oc- 
casions, seems to have partaken in the friendly 
sentiments of his son Granganemeo, towards the 
English,) had, with his eldest son Wingina, now 
called Pemisapan, seem.s to have been, upon this 
report, nearly extinguished. Accordingly, Pemisa- 
pan was still CA er secretly contriving mischief against 



• Burk (Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 58,) cites here similar 
instances among the successors of Powhatan, from Stith's 
Hist, of Virginia, p. 155. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. gl 

them. He had projected a scheme of starving the sect. 
EngHsh out of the island Roanoke, by neglecting v^^.-.^^,^^ 
to plant or cultivate it. This scheme, however, i.i«5. 
seems to have been in some measure defeated, by a 
combination of fortunate circumstances, which took 
])lace in the spring of the following year. The 
chiefs of several other nations, had manifested an 
amicable disposition towards govcrnour Lane and 
his settlers. The king of the Chowanocks, though 
from his former conduct, he must still hiivt been a 
secret enemy, sent a present of pearl to Mr. Lane ; 
and Okisko, king of the Weopopomewks, (another 
powerful nation, possessing all that country frotn. 
Albemarle sound and Chowan river, to Chesapeake 
bay), in March, 1586, came himself, with twenty- 1586. 
four of his principal men, to own subjection to the 
queen of England. The aged and cautious Ense- 
nore, induced thereto, perhaps, more zealously by 
the pacific conduct of these other chiefs, exerted on 
this occasion, the little influence he had with his 
son, and prevailed upon him to relinquish his 
schemes, and to plant in corn, a considerable extent 
of ground, both on the island and main land. 

This apparent prosperity of the adventurers, ad- 
ded to the influence of Ensenore, preserved peace 
for a short time with this savage. But on the death 
of Ensenore, which happened on the twentieth of 
April, this year, all check on his natural disposition 
being now removed, he meditated a plan for the 
utter extirpation of the colonists. Under pretence 
of solemnizing; his father's funeral, he issued secret 
orders to tlie Indians, to rendezvous at a certain 
place, widi intent to full on the English witli the 



82 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SKCT. whole force of the nation. The plot, however, 
s^'^^r^'s^ previous to the time fixed for its execution, was 
1586. discovered to the Enghsh, by tlieir prisoner Skiko, 
the son of Menatonon. An attempt was made to 
retahate on the Indians, by seizing their canoes, and 
thus keeping them in a state of seige on the island ; 
but they took the alarm, and after a loss of six men 
escaped into the woods. After various stratagems 
on both sides, Pemisapan was, at last, on the first of 
June, drawn into an ambush, with eight of his 
chiefs, and slain.* 

The colonists now began to be in so much dis- 
tress, from want of food, that they were under the 
necessity of dispersing themselves into different 
parts of the country, in quest of the means of sub- 
sistence. It was, in consequence of this, that cap- 
tain Stafford, who had, with a small party, been 
stationed on the southern part of Cape Look-out, to 
shift for themselves, and to " see if they could spy 
any sail pass by the coast," sent, on the ninth of 
June, intelligence to Mr. Lane, that he discovered 
twenty sail of ships. f 

Queen Elizabeth, being now at war with Spain, 
>vas advised to attack her settlements in America, 
and to surprise the Spanish galeons. In prosecu- 
tion of this scheme, a fleet of twenty sail had been 
fitted out and placed under the command of Sir 
Francis Drake. This distinguished naval com- 

* Bnrk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 57, 60. Holmes's 
Annals, Vol. !,p. 122. 

t Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. .39, p. 237. Robevlson's Hist, of 
Americ'a, (1). 9,) Vol. 4, p. 166. Burk's Hist, of Virginia, 
^'ol. ], p. 60. 



HISTORY OF MARYX.AND. 85 



mander, after maiiy important successes against the srct 



III. 



Spaniards, in the West Indies and South America, 
and attacking and reducing Fort St. John's, near St. i586 
Augustine's, in Florida, had, according to the spe- 
cial orders of queen Elizabeth, sailed to visit this 
English colony, and to yield it all possible assist- 
ance.* Arriving oft" Cape Look-out, and disco- 
vering a distant fire, the admiral sent his skiff" ashore 
with some of his men, who found captain Stafford 
and his party there, and took them on board their 
ships. By their direction, the fleet proceeded the next 
day, to the place which the English colonists made 
their port ; but some of the ships, being of too great 
draught to enter, anchored about two miles from the 
shore, " without the harbour in a wilde roade at 
sea."t From this place Drake, who had been told 
that the colony was in distress for want of provi- 
sions, sent a letter by captain Stafford to governour 
Lane, then at his fort on Roanoke island, about six 
leagues distant, making him an offer of supplies. 
The next day, Mr. Lane and some of his company 
going on board the fleet, Drake made them two 
proposals ; either to leave them a ship, a pinnace, 
and several boats, with sufficient masters and mari- 
ners, furnished with a month's provisions, to stay 
and make further discovery of the country and 
coasts, and so much additional provision, as would 
be sufficient to carry them all to England ; or, to 
give them a passage home in his fleet. The first 

* Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 214. 

t According to the above description of the place where 
Drake arrived and anchored, it is most probable, that it was 
what is now called Roanoke inlet. 



84 INTRODUCTION- TO A 



s^xT. proposal was gratefully accepted.* A ship was uc- 
^,..^,„,^ cordingly selected by Drake, and delivered to the 
I5ti6. colonists ; but before the provisions were entirely 
received on board, there arose a great storm, that con- 
tinued three days, and endangered the whole fleet. 
Many cables ^vere broken, and many anchors lost, 
and some of the ships, of which number was that 
destined for the use of the colonists, were compelled 
to put to sea. Drake now generously rnakhig the 
colony an offer of another ship with provisions, or 
a passage home, governour Lane, and the principal 
persons with him, having considered what was ex- 
pedient, requested the admiral, under their hands, 
that they might have a passage to England. The 
rest of their company was now sent for : the whole 
colony was taken on board ;t and the fleet, leaving 

* An observation of Holmes, in his Annals, (Vol. l,p. 123,) 
seems to explain this : " The hope, he says, of finding a rich 
mine in the interior part of the country, which they had alrea- 
dy made an attempt to discover, seems to have greatly influ- 
enced their wishes to continue longer in Virginia." In sup- 
port of this, he cites Hackluyt, iii. 255, 263 ; adding, «' The 
mine is said to be 'notorious' among the Indians, and to lie 
up the river Moratuck. The narrator in Hackluyt calls it 
« a marvellous and most strange mineral ;" and the narrator 
lidds, " there wanted no great good will, from the most to the 
least amongst us, to have perfitted this discoverie of the mine: 
for that the discovery of a good mine, by the goodness of God, 
or a passage to the South sea, or some way to it, and nothing 
due can bring this country in request to be inhabited by our na- 
tion." I would observe here, that this indicates very strongly 
the motives to colonisation, which existed generally among 
the first settlers of Virginia. 

t The narrator in Hackluyt (according to Holmes's An- 
nals, Vol. I, p. 122, note l,)says, that when Drake sent his 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 85 

America on the eighteenth of June, arrived on the sect. 
twenty-eightli of July, at the English harbour of ^^^^.^ 
Portsmouth. Thus terminated the first English i586. 
colony planted in America. 

vessels to Roanoke, to bring away a few persons, who were 
left therewith the baggage, " the weather was so boisterous, 
and the pinnaces so often on ground, that the most of all we 
had, with our cards, books, and writings, were by the sailors, 
cast overboard." This accident may have deprived us of a 
more full and accurate account of the proceedings and disco- 
veries of this colony, during its year's residence in Virginia, 
than we otherwise have- 



SECTION IV. 

Attempts to relieve the first colony under governour Lane — A second 
colony at the same place under governour White — Sir Walter Ra- 
leigh assigns his patent — The whole of the second colony lost 

Gosnold's voyage to New England— Sir Walter Raleigh's endea- 
vours to find out the second colony at Roanoke — captain Pring's 
expedition — Captain Bartholomew Gilbert's voyage — Captain Wey- 
mouth's. 

SOME writers* think it proper to apologize sect. 
for Sir Walter Raleigh, on account of the misfortune ^^' 
of the first colony, by observing, that it was not at i586. 
all owing to any negligence in him ; for he continu- 
ally pressed the company or those concerned with to rdi^ve 
him in interest, to reflect on the necessity of sup- coion"in. 
portins; the colony in time ; and so solicitious was^^^''^°^^^"" 

. . , . nourLane. 

he m this business, that finding the fleet, which was 
preparing for that purpose under the command of 
Sir Richard Grcnville, went on but slowly, he pro- 
posed that the first ship, that was completely man- 
ned and equipped, should be sent without staying for 
the rest ; which was done ; but when she arrived at 
the island of Roanoke, which was within a few davs 
after Drake had departed, they found it deserted. 
The master of the vessel, not being able to get any 
information concerning them, returned to England. 
In a fortnight after this, Sir Richard Grenville arrived 
with his squadron of three small ships, but to his 
great disappointment found not a man upon the 

• Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. l.p. 214, 
Harris's. Voyages, Vol. 2. t>. 202. 



6a INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, island. After searching in vain for the colony he 
had left the year before without being able to leara 

1586. what had befallen it, he resolved to try the experi- 
ment of another settlement, and accordingly placed 
fifteen men, (some authors say fifty,) on the island. 
He left them furnished with all necessaries for two 
years, and gave them the strongest assurances, that 
they should be constantly and regularly supplied. 
But this handful of unfortunate men was soon after 
over-powered and destroyed by the Indians. 

1587. Not discouraged by these abortive efibrts to plant 
^oi^nTat ^ colony in America, Sir Walter Raleigh, with a 
the same perscvcrance natural to great minds in arduous un- 

place un- ^ ^ " 

dergov- dertakings, resolved to attempt at making another 



ernoiir 



wiiite. settlement. By an indenture of grant bearing date 
the 17th of January, 29th of Eliz. 1587 (new style) 
he granted unto John White," and twelve others, 
(dierein mentioned,) " free libertie to carrie with 
them into the late disco\'ered barbarous land, and 
countrie, called Assamacomock^ alias JFingandacoia^ 
alias Firginia, there to inhabit with them, such and 
so many of her Majestie's subjects, as shall willing- 
ly accompany them, and also divers and sundrie 
other prerogatives, jurisdictions, royalties and pre- 
heminencies." — By this indenture also, it would 
seem, he constituted a corporation by the name of 
the governour and assistants of the city of Raleigh in 
Virginia, " a city intended to be erected and buildcd 
m Virginia aforesaid."* Captain John White was 
made governour, and the twelve assistants formed 
his council, in whom conjointly were vested the 

• See the recital of the Indenture in Sir Walter Raleigh's 
indeiUure of assignment, iu Hazard's collections, Vol. 1, p. 42. 



!^. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 89 

legislative and executive powers for the government sect. 
of the colony. A small fleet of three ships was v^^->^^-^ 
fitted out and placed under the command of the i587. 
governour captain White. About one hundred and 
seventeen adventurers and settlers, consisting of 
men, women, and children,* with a plentiful supply 
of provisions, were embarked on board the fleet. 
They were directed by Sir Walter to fix their plan- 
tation and erect a fort at the bay of Chesapeake, 
which had been discovered by governour Lane the 
preceding year. Thus prepared for a permanent 
settlement, they arrived on the 22d of July, 1587, 
at Hatteras. The governour, with forty of his best 
men, went on board the pinnace, intending to pass 
up to the island of Roanoke, in the hope of finding 
the fifteen Englishmen, whom Sir Richard Grenville 
had left there the year before ; and, after a confer- 
ence with them concerning the state of the country 
and of tlie Indians, to return to the fleet, and proceed 
along the coast to the bay of Chesapeake, according 
to the orders of Raleigh. But no sooner had the 
pinnace left the ship, than a gentleman, instructed by 
Fernando, the principal naval commander, who was 
destined to return soon to England,! called to the 

* See a list of their names in Hazard's collections, Vol. 1. 
p. 40. Although these adventurers composed in reality the 
third English colony attempted to be settled in America, con- 
sisting the before-mentioned fifteen men as one, yet as Ro- 
bertson and other historians speak of these above under 
White as the second colony sent out, their authority is here 
followed . 

t In the Indenture of Jan. 7th, 1587, above-mentioned, 
(under which this colony was attempted to be planted) .men- 
Uon is made of " Simon Fernando of London," as one of the 

M 



90 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SF.cT, sailors on board the pinnace, and charged them not 



IV. 



to bring back any cf the planters, excepting the 
i.5br. governour and two or three others, whom he approv- 
ed, but to leave them in the island ; for the summer, 
he observed, was far spent, and therefore he would 
land all the planters in no other place. The sailors 
on board the pinnace, as well as those on board the 
ship, having been persuaded by the master to this 
measure, the governour, judging it best not to con- 
tend with them, proceeded to Roanoke. At sun- 
set he landed with his men at that place in the island^ 
where the fifteen men were left ; but discovered no 
signs of them, excepting the bones of one man, 
whom they supposed to have been killed by the 
savages. The next day the governour and several 
of his company went to the north end of the island, 
where governour Lane had erected his fort, and his 
men had built several decent dwelling houses, the 
preceding year; hoping to find here some signs, if 
not the certain knowledge, of the fifteen men. But^ 
on coming to the place, and finding the fort razed, 
and all the houses, though standing unhurt, over- 
grown with weeds and vines, and deer feeding with- 
in them, they returned in despair of ever seeing their 
looked-for countrymen alive. Orders were given 
the same day for the repair of the houses, and for 

grantees, and who was probably also one of the twelve assis- 
tants or counsellors. His name appears also in the list of 
colonists, (published in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 40.) 
" who remained to inhabit in Virginia" at this time, they 
could not therefore be the same persons, but I find it related 
as above in Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 125, who probably 
took it from some authentic writer. 



HISTOTIY OF MARYLAND. 91 



the erection of new cottages. All the colony, con- sect 
sisting of one hundred and seventeen persons, soon v,^^/^ 
after landed, and began to make the necessary pre- 1587. 
parations for their accommodation and comfort. It 
was not long before they were visited by Manteo, 
the faithful Indian, who had accompanied Amidas 
and Barlow to England ;* from whom they received 
some intelligence of the fate of their countrymen. 
He informed them, that the natives secretly set upon 

* Although the names of two Indians, Manteo and Towaye, 
are n\entioned in the list of adventurers in this expedition, 
published in Hazard's collections, vol. 1, p. 40. as " Savages 
that were in England and returned home into Virginia with 
them;" which seems to be repeated in Holmes's Annals, 
vol. 1, p. 127, note, 1. ; yet there is evidently a mistake in this 
supposition, although it may be so in Hackluyt ; not merely 
because it is expressly said by Oldniixon, in his British Em- 
pire in America, vol. 1, p. 212, and Burk in his History of 
Virginia, vol. I, p. 51, that Manteo and Wanchese, the two 
Indians who had been in England, returned with governour 
I^ane and his colony under Sir Richard Grenville, but that it 
would be otherwise impossible to suppose, that Manteo should 
be said to have come to captain White's colony soon after 
their arrival, and given them some information of the loss of 
the fifteen men left by Grenville, as he is said by most writers 
to have done, if he had not been in the country during the 
time when these fifteen men resided at Roanoke. The im- 
probability also of governour Lane's coming out with a colony 
and leaving these two Indians in England, when he must have 
been certain of their utility to them, forms a strong ground 
against the supposition. The difference between the names 
" Towaye" and " Wanchese" appears to be immaterial, as 
Indians are said to change their names frequently, and the 
name of Towaye most probably means the same person as that 
of Wanchese. It is possible, that they were mentioned in the 
Jist of colonists, because, being friendly to them, they might 
make their constant residence with them. 



92 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, them, and killed some ; the rest fled into the 
s^'-v^^,^ woods. 
i58r. The colony had now been but a few days on the 
island, when Mr. Howe, a gentleman who was one 
of the council, or court of assistants as it was called, 
was attacked and barbarously murdered by the na- 
tives, as he happened to stroll about at a little dis- 
tance from the fort, which the new planters had re- 
paired or erected. Soon afterwards a party was sent 
under the command of captain Stafford, accompanied 
by Manteo, to a place called Croatan^ which it 
seems was the name of an Indian town, situated 
near Ocracock inlet, and on the northern part of the 
island of which Cape Look-out is the southern ex- 
tremity. At first, the natives seemed determined 
to oppose the captain's debarkation ; but, through 
the persuasion of Manteo, they were induced to alter 
their resolution, lay down their arms, and enter into 
an alliance against the Indians of Scroton, on the 
continent. Upon this occasion, it was, that they 
received further information of the fate of the little co- 
lony left by Grenville. Seven of the fifteen, it seems, 
had been killed by the Indians of Scroton, who fell 
upon them by surprise, and set fire to their houses in 
the night ; while the remaining eight escaped to the 
water-side, went over to a little island near Cape 
Hatteras, and were never since heard of* The 

• The above account of the destruction of these unfortu- 
nate men, is from the Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 239 ; but 
it is somewhat differently related in an extract from Hack- 
luyt, iii, 283, 284, published in Holmes's Annals, Vol. I, p. 
126, note 1 : " About a week afterward, some of the EngHsh 
people going to Croatan, were told by the Indians, that the 15 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 9 

reader will recollect, that the Indians of Scroton were sect. 

IV. 

the same tribe or nation, upon w horn Sir Richard y^,^^^^ 
Grenville had exercised such an imprudent revenge 1587. 
for the theft of a silver cup. In consequence of this 
intelligence, it was now resolved to fall upon the 
Scrotons; upon which expedition, the governour 
set out in person, attended by twenty-eight select 
soldiers, well armed. Being informed of the situa- 
tion of their principal town, he attacked it in the 
night, broke in with the greatest impetuosity ; but 
was astonished to find that he had killed and wound- 
ed several of his allies, the Croatans. The Scrotons, 
it seems, expecting an attack from the English set- 
tlement, to revenge the ruin of Grenville's little co- 
lony, and the death of Mr. Howe, had evacuated the 
place ; and, after their departue, the Croatans had un- 
luckily taken possession of it. 

Two small events about this time, have been 
thought by historians, worth recording. On the 
thirteenth of August Manteo, the friendly Indian, 
was baptized at Roanoke, according to a previous 
order of Sir Walter Raleigh ; and, in reward of his 

Englishmen, left by Grenville, were surprised by 30 Indians ; 
who, having treacherously slain one of them, compelled the 
rest to repair to the house containing their provisions and 
weapons, which the Indians instantly set on fire ; that the 
English, leaving the house, skirmished with them about an 
hour ; that in this skirmish, another of their number was shot 
in the mouth with an arrow, and died ; that they retired fight- 
ing to the water-side, where lay their boat, with which they 
fled towards Hatteras ; that they landed on a little island on the 
right hand of the entrance into the harbour of Hatteras, where 
they remained a-while, and afterward departed, whither they 
knew not." 



94. INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, fidelity and services to the English, the governoiir 



TV 



created him Lord of Dassamenpeak, an Indian na- 
1587. tion in the neighbourhood. And on the eighteenth, 
Mrs. Dare, a daughter of governour White, and 
wife of Ananias Dare, (one of the assistants,) was 
delivered of a daughter at Roanoke, who was bap- 
tized on the next Sunday, by the name of Virginia; 
because she was the first English child bom in the 
countr}'.* 

The affairs of the colon}^ seem to have been now 
considered in so prosperous a way, and the colonists 
so well pleased with their situation, that when the 
ships were about to return to England, and it be- 
came necessary for some person to return with them 
in order more speedily to promote further supplies, 
they all declined, except one, who was judged to be 
imequal to the office ; and the governour, by mere 
importunity and solicitation, was constrained, much 
against his wishes, to undertake it.f He sailed from 
Roanoke on the twenty- seventh of August, and ar- 
rived in England at a most unfavourable time in- 
deed, for the purposes he had undertaken. He 
found the nation in imiversal alarm, at the formi- 
dable preparations of Philip H, of Spain, to invade 
England, and collecting all its force to oppose 
the fleet, which the Spaniards arrogantly denomi- 
nated the Invincible Armada. Raleigh, Gren- 
ville, and all the most zealous patrons of the new 

* Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. !,p. 215, 
216. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 239, Holmes's Annals, 
Vol. 1, p. 124. Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 63. 

t Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 64. Harris's Voyages, 
Vol. 2, p. 203c 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. '9o 

settlements, were called to act a distinguished part sect, 
in those measures of defence, which the public dan- ^^IL_^ 
ger demanded and rendered indispensable. 1588. 

Raleigh, however, mingled with his exertions to 
defend his native country, some attention to the si- 
tuation of the colony he had planted. Early in the 
following year he found leisure to lit out for its re- 
lief, at Biddeford, a small fleet, the command of 
which was given to Sir Richard Grenville ; but the 
apprehensions from the Spanish armament still in- 
creasing, the ships of force prepared by Raleigh 
were detained in port, by order of the queen, for 
the defence of their own country ; and Sir Richard 
Grenville was specially and personally commanded, 
not to depart out of Cornwall ; where his sevices 
under Sir Walter Raleigh, who was mustering and 
training the forces, as lieutenant of the county, were 
deemed necessar}\* Governour White, it seems, 
was also at this time, one of the queen's council of 
war, and was, therefore, by reason of his office, 
obliged to remain in England, f These patrons of 
the colony still, however, found means to make some 
efforts for their relief in this year. Two small pin- 
naces, in which were fifteen planters, with suitable 
supplies of provision, were fitted out, and sailed for 
Virginia. Being more intent on a profitable voyage, 
than on the relief of the colony, the person or per- 
sorvs under whose direction they were placed, went 
in chase of prizes ; until at length, two men of war 
from Rochelle, falling in with them, disabled and 
rifled diem, and obliged them to put back for Eng- 

* Marshall's Life of \Vashington, Vol. 1, p. 18, 
t Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. ISO. 



96 INTRODUCTIOX TO A 



SECT, land.* Thus the whole year of 1588 elapsed with- 



IV 



out furnishing the colony with supplies. 



1589. Soon after this, the attention of Raleiarh beinar 

SirWaltei- ' . , • , 

Raieigii directed to other more splendid objects, he assigned 
his'putent his patent to Thomas Smith, William Sanderson, 
Toothers, ^^j^ scvcral othcrs, merchants and adventurers, 
whose names are enumerated in the indenture of 
assignment, bearing date the 7th of March, 31 Eliz. 
(1589,) making at the same time a donation to the 
assignees, of one hundred pounds lawful money of 
England, foi the encouragement of their designs. f 
Although the Spanish armada had been destroyed 
in the course of the preceding year, and the nation 
freed from the alarm of invasion, yet, it seems, that 
they were as anxiously engaged this year in retalia- 
ting on the Spaniards, by an expedition against 
them ; so that difiiculties, similar to those of the 
former year, might have operated to prevent any 
relief to the unfortunate colonists. 

1590. It was not till the year after the assignment, that 
ot'iiie se-^ go vernour White could go to their assistance. Above 
comi coio- ^yyQ years had now elapsed, since he had left his 

infant colony, imder the full expectation of his 
speedy return to them. On the 20th of March, 
1590, he sailed from Plymouth with three ships ; 
but, taking the usual circuit by the West Indies, 
he, perhaps undesignedly, suffered himself to be too 
much delayed in the capturing of Spanish prizes. 
Ha^^ing arrived at Hatteras on the 15th of August, 
they fired some cannon to give notice of their aiTi- 

* Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 129. 

t See this indenture of assignment at large, in Hazard's 
Collectionsj Vol. l,p. 42. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 9r 

val, and sent some men on shore at the place where sect. 
the colony had been left ; but no signs of their ^^ ' 
countrymen could be found. In attempting the 1590. 
next day, to go to Roanoke, one of the boats in 
passing a bar, was half filled with water ; another 
overset, and seven men were drowned. This disas- 
ter discouraged the other sailors to such a degree, that 
they all seemed resolved to abandon the research : 
but by the persuasion and authority of the gover- 
nour and one of their captains, they resumed it. 
The govemour accordingly, taking with him nine- 
teen men in two boats, went towards the place where 
he had left the English colon}', and found on a tree 
at the top of the bank, the letters CRO, carved in 
fair Roman characters. This he knew to be intend- 
ed to mark the place, where the planters might be 
found : for they had secretly agreed with him, at 
his departure for England, to WTite or carve on the 
trees or posts of the doors, the name of the place 
where they should be seated, because they were at 
that time preparing to remove fifty miles frojn Roa- 
noke island, into the main land. It had also been 
agreed, that in case of their distress, they should 
carve over the letters a cross ; but, to the great 
comfort and encouragement of their English friends, 
they found not this sign. Coming to the spot where 
the colony had been left, they found the houses 
taken down, and the place very strongly inclosed 
with a high palisade of trees, in the form of a fort. 
At the right side of the entrance, on one of the chief 
trees or posts, the bark of which had been taken off 
five feet from the ground, was carved in fair capital 
letters, CRO AT AN, without the sign of distress. 

N 



fi8 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SKCT. Within the palisade they found many bars of iron, 
s,^,'-^-^,^ pigs of lead, iron shot, and other things of bulk and 
1590. weight, scattered about, and almost overgrown with 
grass and weeds. In the end of an old trench, they 
found also, five chests, that had been carefully bu- 
ried and hid by the planters ; three of which gover- 
iiour White recognised as his own, together with 
many other things of his, spoiled and broken : such 
as his books torn from their covers, the frames of 
his pictures and maps rotten and spoiled with rain, 
and his armour almost eaten through with rust. 
Concluding from the circumstance of no signal of 
distress being left, as agreed upon, that the colony 
was safe at the place thus designated, they returned 
to their ships, and determined to sail for Croatan on 
the next morning. But, a violent storm arising 
that night, the ships were separated from each other, 
and having lost their anchors and cables, durst not 
venture in with the shore. So they all shifted for 
themselves, and with various fortunes, arrived in 
England and Ireland.* What became of the un- 
fortunate colonists, whom White had left in 1587, 
time has never yet developed. From the palisaded 
fort, it would seem, that they had been either at- 
tacked by, or were in much apprehension of danger 
from the natives before their removal. The Indians 
of Croatan, having been always friendly to the Eng- 
lish, through the influence of Manteo, who, it seems, 
belonged to that tribe, and was a native of that place,f 

* Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 217, 
Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 130. 

f Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 131. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAifD. 99 

they were induced, probably by that circumstance, sect. 
to remove thither. After which no traces of them ^^-v-^ 
appear. I602. 

This unfortunate event seems to have chilled the GosnoWs 

voyage to 

ardour of the English for colonisation m America New \Lng- 
for many succeeding years. It was not until the 
year 1602, the last year of the reign of Elizabeth, 
that any voyage of importance was undertaken by 
them to North America, some of the Virginia com- 
pany, probably the most zealous of those to whom 
Sir Walter Raleigh had assigned his patent, resolv- 
ed to fit out a vessel for that country, and accord- 
ingly made choice of captain Bartholomew Gosnold 
for the commander thereof, who had been one ol* 
the adventurers in a former voyage thither, and was 
an excellent mariner. He sailed from Falmouth 
on the 26th of March, 1602, in a small vessel, with 
thirty-two persons on board, of whom it was pro- 
posed, that twelve should stay behind and form a 
settlement, in case he sh6uld meet with any place 
which he should judge convenient for that purpose. 
Instead of following former navigators in their un- 
necessary circuit by the West India isles and the 
Gulf of Florida, Gosnold steered due west, as 
nearly as the winds would permit, and is said to be 
the first English commander, who reached America 
by this shorter and more direct course.* He arrived 

* Although Robertson, and other historians after him, have 
observed as above, that Gosnold was the first English com- 
mander who sailed to America by this shorter course, yet, 
unless it be understood of that part of America then called 
Virginia, it cannot well be admitted. For undoubtedly Ca- 
^t, (who, though not sn Englishman, yet sailed under English 



100 iNTRODUCtlON TO A 

SECT, on the 1 1th of May in neaily forty-three degrees of 
K^y.^-y^ north latitude on the coast of Massachusetts. Here 
1602. they met with a shallop with a mast and sails, having 
on board eight Indians, with whom the English had 
friendly intercourse.* Sailing along the shore they 
the next day discovered a headland in the^atitnde of 
forty-two degrees, where they came to anchor ; and, 
taking a great number of cod-fish at this place, they 
called it Cape Cod, a name it still retains, holding 
their course along the coast as it stretched toward 
the south-west they discovered, on the twenty-first 
of May, an island, which they called Martha^s Vine- 
yard ; not that, it seems, which now bears that name, 
but a small island now called Noman's Land. Co- 
ming to anchor, two days afterwards, at the north- 
west part of this island, they were visited the next 
morning by thirteen of the natives, with whom they 



colours and -with English seamen,) and all those, who had 
previously visited Newfoundland, particularly Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, sailed this shorter and direct course. 

* These natives first hailed the English ; who answered 
them. After signs of peace, and a long speech made by one 
of the Indians, they went boldly on board the English vessel, 
*' ali naked," saving loose deer skins about their shoulders, 
*' andneer their wastes seal skins tyed faste like to Irish dimmie 
trowses." One of them, who seemed to be their chief, wore 
a waistcoat, breeches, cloth-stockings, shoes, and a hat ; one 
or two others had a few things of European fabric ; and " these 
with a piece of chaike described the coast thereabouts, and 
could name Placentia of the Newfoundland; they spake divers 
christian words.** Their vessel is supposed to have belonged 
to some unfortunate fishermen of Biscay, wrecked on the 
t:oast. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1 J p. 142. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. lOl 

tiad a friendly traffic. On the twenty-fourth they sect. 
discovered another island, which they named Dover ^^^^..^^.^^ 
Cliff, now called Gay Head ; and the next day came ]603. 
to anchor at a quarter of a mile from the shore, in a 
large bay, which they called Gosnold's Hope, which 
is said to be the same as that now called Buzzard's 
Bay. On the northern side of this bay was the main 
land ; and on the southern, four leagues disUmt, was 
a large island, which, in honour of the queen, they 
called Elizabeth. On the twenty-eighth they con- 
sulted together upon a fit place for a plantation ; and 
concluded to settle on the western part of Elizabeth 
island. In this island there is a pond or lake ot 
fresh water, two miles in circumference, in the cen- 
tre of which is a small rocky islet of about an acre 
of ground, and on this islet they began to erect a 
fort and store-house. While the men were occu- 
pied in this work, Gosnold crossed the bay in his 
vessel ; went on shore ; trafficked amicably with the 
natives ; and having discovered the mouths of two 
rivers, supposed to be the two harbours of Apoone- 
ganset and Pascamanset, on one of which the town 
of New Bedford is now built, in the southern part 
of the State of Massachusetts, returned in five days 
to the island. In nineteen days the fort and store- 
house were finished ; but discontents arising among 
those who were to have remained in the country, it 
was concluded, after deliberate consultation, to re- 
linquish the design of a settlement. Having loaded 
their ship with a cargo of sassafras and cedar wood, 
furs, and some other commodities of the country, 
sufficient to indemnify the charges of the expedition, 
they set sail for England, The whole company, 



102 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, havinsr left their little fort on the 18th of June, ai'- 

IV . 

^^_,,-,,,.-;.^_^ rived at Plymouth the 23d of July following.* 

1603. It would be doing gi'eat injustice to Sir Walter 
icr Ra- Raleigh to omit an event, appertaining to this year, 
lei-h's en- -^vhich displays both his sense of honour and huma- 
to find out nity in a very conspicuous point of view. Uneasy, 
colony at as hc manifestly appears to have been, at the aban- 
donment of the colony left at Roanoke in 1587, and 
which had been sent there under his auspices, he 
had sent vessels four different times prior to the 
present instance, at his awn charges, for their relief; 
but these had returned without doing any thing ef- 
fectual ; some having followed their own profit, and 
others returned with frivolous excuses. Still not 
abandoning all hope of finding them, he resolved to 
make one effort more to discover and relieve them. 
Having accordingly purchased and fitted out a bark 
for that purpose, he gave the command of her to 
Samuel Mace, an able mariner and an honest, sober 
man, who had been at Virginia (North Carolina) 
twice before. He sailed from Weymouth in March, 
1602, and fell on the American coast ; in about the 
thirty-fourth degree of north latitude ; spent a month 
there; proceeded along the coast; but returned 

* Harris's voyages, Vol. 2, p. 219. Modern Universal 
History, Vol. 39, p. 240. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 143- 
The following note from Holmes's Annals, Hid. may perhaps 
gratify the curious. In 1797 the reverend Dr. Belknap with 
several other gentlemen went to the spot, Avhich was selected 
by Gosnold's company on Elizabeth Island, and had the su- 
preme satisfaction to find the cellar of Gosnold's store-house : 
the stones of which Mere evidently taken from the neighbour- 
ing beach ; the rocks of the islet being less moveable, and 
?yingin ledges.*' Belknap's Biog. ii, 1 IS. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 103 

home without any thorough attempt to effectuate the sect. 
puqDOse of the voyage. They offered an excuse, ^^^r-v-i^^ 
either real or pretended, that the extremity of weather 1602. 
and the loss of some principal ground tackle forced 
and deterred them from seeking the port of Hat- 
teras.* 

The voyage of Gosnold, however inconsiderable ieo3. 
it may appear, is said to have had important effects, p^f^y} 
He had found a healthy climate, a rich soil, and good expedr-^ 
harbours, far to the north of the place where the 
English had attempted to make a settlement. Its 
distance from England was diminished, almost a 
third part, by the new course he had pointed out. 
The pacific reign of James had now succeeded to 
that of Elizabeth, whose government, as well from 
her parsimony, as from the happy content of het 
subjects under it, had not been favourable to colo- 
nisation. In addition to which, the frequent wars 
With Spain, which had afforded her subjects such 
constant employment, and presented to them such 
alluring prospects both of fame and wealth, having 
now ceased under James, persons of high rank and 
ardent ambition became impatient to find some ex- 
ercise for their activity and talents. New plans for 
establishing colonies in America were the result. 
Under all these circumstances, the reverend Mr. 
Richard Hackluyt, a prebendary of the cathedral of 
Westminster, (to whom England is said to have beer> 
more indebted for its American possessions than to 
any other man of that age, and whose valuable col- 
kction of voyages and discoveries, published by 

* Harris's voyages. Vol. 2, p. 219, 220. 



104 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, him in the year 1589, diffused a relish among his 
y^^^-v-^^ countrymen for the sciences of geography and navi- 
1603. gation,) was induced to project a scheme for send- 
ing in the year 1603, a small fleet on a voyage, simi- 
lar to that of Gosnold's, and prevailed upon several 
gentlemen and merchants of Bristol to embrace and 
join in the undertaking. -*^ Previous to any prepara- 
tions, for this purpose, it is said to have been deem- 
ed by them necessary to apply to Sir Walter Raleigh, 
who was still looked upon as the proprietor of Virgi- 
nia, in order to procure his licence. On Mr. Hack- 
luyt's application to Sir Walter, they received all the 
encouragement they could desire; for he not only 
o-ranted them a licence under his hand and seal, but 
also made over to them all the profits which should 
arise from the voyage. After they were thus empow- 
ered, they raised a joint stock of a thousand pounds, 
and fitted out two small vessels, the one called the 
Speedwell, commanded by captain Martin Pring, of 
the burden of fifty tons, with thirty men and boys ; 
the other a bark of 26 tons, called the Discoverer, 
commanded by Mr. William Brown, who had un- 
der him a mate and eleven men, and a boy.f These 

• It is sard in Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 222. that Mj\ 
Hackluyt "had a prebend in the cathedral of Bristol," and in 
the Modern Universal History, Vol. 39, p. 240, that he was 
*' a Prebendary in the cathedral of Bristol."- This corresponds 
■with his influence with the Bristol merchants. He is how- 
ever styled, " Prebendary of Westminster," in the first Vir- 
ginia charter of 1606, and by Robertson. He might, perhaps, 
have had a prebend in both cathedrals at different times. 

t These vessels appear very small to us at this day for such 
long voyages ; but, according to Hume, such was the mode 
of building them at that time. See his Appendix to queen 
Elizabeth's reign. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND.' 105 

vessels were victualled for eie^ht months, and had a sect. 
large cargo on board, consisting of all sorts of goods ^^^-^^^Vl,• 
that were deemed proper for bai-ter in that country. ^^^^• 
They sailed from King's Road, near Bristol, on the 
20th of March, 1602-3. Being hindered by con- 
trary winds, they put into Milford Haven, where 
they continued till the 10th of April following, and 
then proceeded on their voyage. They did not 
pursue the short route, which Gosnold took, but 
went by the Azores, and arrived without any re- 
markable accident, in the beginning of June, on the 
coast of North America, between the forty-third 
and forty-fourth degrees of north latitude, among 
a multitude of islands, in the mouth of Penobscot 
bay. Ranging the coast to the south-west, and 
passing the Saco, Kennebunk, York, and Piscata- 
qua rivers, they proceeded into the bay of Massachu- 
setts. They went on shore here, but not finding 
any sassafras-wood, the collection of which was a 
great object of their voyage, they coasted further 
along, till they entered a large sound, supposed to 
be what is now called the Vineyard sound, and 
came to an anchor on the north side of it. Here 
they landed at an excellent harbour in a bay, which, 
in honour of the mayor of Bristol, they called Whit- 
son bay ; mentioned to be in about forty- one de- 
grees and some few minutes north latitude. Having 
built a hut, and inclosed it with a bairicade, some 
of them kept constant guard in it, while others were 
employed in collecting sassafras in the woods. The 
natives came and trafficked with them, forty or fifty 
in a company, and sometimes upward of an hun- 
dred, and would eat and drink, and be meny with 

o 



106 INTllODUCTION TO A 



SECT. them. Observing a lad in the company, playing 



IV 



upon a guitar, they seemed much pleased at it, got 
1603. round about him, and taking hands, danced twenty 
or thirty in a ring, after their manner. It was ob- 
served, that they were more afraid of two mastiff 
dogs, which the English had with them, than of 
twenty men ; so that when our voyagers wished to 
get rid of their company, they let loose one of these 
mastiffs, upon which the natives would immediately 
shriek out, and run away to the woods. After re- 
maining here about seven weeks, the bark was des- 
patched, well freighted with sassafras, for England. 
Soon after her departure, some alarming appearances 
of hostility began to be manifested on the part of the 
Indians ; which might, probably, be owing to the 
above-mentioned improper conduct towards them, 
as well as the erecting a fortification in their coun- 
try ; for not long afterwards, when most of the men 
were absent from the fort, a large party of Indians 
came and surrounded it, and would probably have 
surprised it, if the captain of the ship had not fired 
two guns, and alarmed the Avorkmen in the woods. 
This induced them to accelerate the lading and de- 
parture of the ship, for which they had procured a 
very valuable cargo of skins and furs, in exchange 
for the commodities which they had bartered with 
the Indians. Amongst the curiosities which they 
brought back with them, was a canoe, or boat used 
by the inhabitants, made of the bark of the birch 
tree, sewed together with twigs, the seams covered 
with rosin or turpentine ; and though it was seven- 
teen feet long, four broad, and capable of carrying 
nine persons, it did not weigh sixty pounds. These 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 107 

boats the inhabitants rowed, or rather paddled, with sect. 
two wooden instruments, similar to baker's peels, v.^-v->^ 
by ^\^hich they went at a great rate. On the day i603. 
before the embarkation of the English, an incident 
occurred, which seemed to confirm the suspected 
hostility of the natives. They came in great num- 
bers to the woods where the English had cut the 
sassafras, and set fire to it ; which seemed to be de- 
signed to let them know, that th,ey would preserve 
nothing in their country, which should invite such 
guests to visit them again. On the ninth of August 
our voyagers quitted the coast, and sailed for Eng- 
land, amving in the mouth of the Bristol channel in 
five weeks ; but meeting there with contrary winds, 
tliey could not reach King's road before the second 
of October : and they had the satisfaction of find- 
ing that their bark was safely arrived a fortnight be- 
fore them.* 

In the same year also, and while Pring was em- captaTn 
ployed in this voyage, captain Bartholomew Gilbert, ^J^ ^^^yI 
who had been the year before with captain Gosnold, l^^'^'^^^' 
was sent by some merchants of London, on a fur- 
ther discovery, to the southern part of Virginia ; it 
being intended also, that he should search for the 
lost English colony. Sailing from Plymouth on the 
tenth of May, in a bark of fifty tons, by the way of 
the West Indies, where they made a short stay, they 
arrived on the 25th of July, off the Capes of Chesa- 
peake bay, which Gilbert was very desirous of en- 
tering; but the wind blowing hard, with a high 
sea, though they beat about for two or three days, 

• Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 222. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 
39, p. 240. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 145. 



108 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SF.CT. they could not get in, and were obliged to bear 
^^«^^^^ away to the eastward. On the twenty-ninth they 
1603. anchored about a mile from the shore ; and the cap- 
tain, with four of his best inen and two lads, landed 
in their boat. Being provided with arms, he and 
his men marched some short distance up into the 
country : but, in their march, they were set upon 
and overpowered by the natives, and all killed ; and 
it was not without difficult}'-, that the two young men 
who were left with the boat, could reach the ship 
again, to bring the news. They being now, in all, 
but eleven men and boys in the ship, were afraid to 
\'enture the loss of any more of their small compa- 
ny ; and their provisions growing short, the master, 
Henry Sute, who had taken the command, resolved, 
though they were in extreme want of wood and water, 
to return homewards ; which they did, and arrived in 
the river Thames about the end of September.* 

* Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 223. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 
1, p. 146. The above account of Gilbert's voyage is exti'act- 
ed from Harris's Voyages, with which Holmes's Annals cor- 
respond. But it may be proper to be informed, that Oldmixon 
in his British Empire in America, Vol. 1 , p. 2 1 9, gives a dif- 
ferent relation of this expedition. He says, that " Gilbert pro- 
ceeded from the Carribee islands to the bay of Chesapeake, in 
Virginia, being thejirst that sailed ufi into it, and landed there. 
The Indians set upon him and his company in the woods ; 
and captain Gilbert and four or five of his men, were killed by 
their aiTows : upon which his crew returned home." But, as 
the above mentioned collection of voyages by Harris, is not 
only posterior in time, but also rather a more authentic work 
than Oldmixon's, the narration of the former is here adopted 
in the text. There is an obscurity, however, in Harris's ac- 
count of it as to the jilace where Gilbert was killed. As only 
a day or two intervened between his quitting the capes of Che- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 109 

The pacific disposition of king James, and his sect. 
inexperience in the usage and law of nations, had v>-^^^ 
induced him to suppose, that by his mere accession 1604. 
to the tlirone of England, peace was thereby restored 
between England and Spain, he having been always 
before, as king of Scotland, in amity with Spain. 
He had on the 23d of June, 1603, before any terms 
of peace were concerted, or even proposed by Spain, 
recalled all the letters of marque that had been 
granted by Elizabeth against the nation ; and, al- 
though a sort of peace actually existed between 
Spain and England from the commencement of his 
reign, yet it was not until the 18th of August, 1 604, 
that the treaty of peace was signed between the two 
nations.* This event removed many of the obsta- 
cles that stood in the way of the British trade, and 
opened to their ships a free access to many coun- 
tries, to which they had not before resorted. The 
old passion for the discovery of a north-west pas- 
sage, now revived again in its full vigour. With a 
view to this discovery, two noblemen of the highest 
rank and influence in the kingdom, were induced to 
send out a ship under the command of captain 
George Weymouth. Writers who have mentioned jggj 
this voyage, differ so widely, and give such con- Captain 
tradictory accounts of it, that it has become scarcely moTth's 
intitled to notice. It seems that they sailed on the '''^y''^^^- 
last day of May, 1605, from Dartmouth, (some say, 

sapeake and the time of his landing, it would seem that it could 
not be higher to the north-eastivard than the Hudson's river. 
More pi'obably, however, some where along the sea-coast of 
Maryland, or state of Delaware. 

• Hume's Hist, of Eng. end of ch. 45j in James I, reign. 



110 INTRODUCTION, kc. 

SECT, from the Downs,) and met with nothing of consfe- 
,^_^.-^-|^^ quence, till such time as they judged themselves to 
1605. be very near the coast of what was then called Vir- 
ginia ; but the winds carrying them to the north- 
ward, in the latitude of 41° 30', and their wood and 
water beginning to grow extremely short, they be- 
came very desirous of seeing land. By their charts 
they had reason to expect it, and therefore bore di- 
rectly in with it, according to their instructions, yet 
they found none in a run of almost 50 leagues. After 
running this distance they discovered several islands, 
on one of which they landed, and called it St. 
George.* Within three leagues of this island, they 
came into a harbour, which they called Pentecost 
harbour, because it was about Whitsuntide they 
discovered it.f They then sailed up a great river 
forty miles ; J set up crosses in several places, and 
had some traffick with the natives. In July they re- 
turned to England, carrying with them five Indians ; 
one a Sagamore, and three others of them, persons 
of distinction, whom they had taken as prisoners. § 

• In Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 223, this island is said to 
be that which is now called Long island, near New York. 

t In the Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 240, this harbour is 
said to be the mouth of Hudson's river. 

I This river is said by Oldmixon, in his British Empire in 
America, Vol. 1, p. 220, to have been "the river of Powha- 
tan," now called James's river, in Virginia. Dr. Belknap 
(American Biog. ii, 149,) is satisfied, that it was the Penob- 
scot, in Maine ; but from the Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 
240, it would seem to have been the Hudson's ; which is the 
most probable, if (according to Harris's Voyages, just cited,) 
the island above-mentioned was Long Island. 

§ See Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 223. Holmes's Annals, 
Vol. 1, p. 150. 



SECTION V. 

Xhe progress of the French in settling colonies in America— A set- 
tlement of convicts on the Isle of Sables, by the French— Chauvin's 
voyages to the St. Lawrence — Pontgrave's voyage to the same— 
The Sieur de Mont's commission, and voyages under it — His pa- 
tent revoked— Pontrincourfs endeavours to fix a settlement at Port 
Koyal, Nova Scotia — The Sieur de Mont obtains a restoration of 
his grant — and establishes the first permanent colony in Canada, 
under the conduct of Champlain. 

THE connection which necessarily subsists sect. 
between the events attending the early settlements ^' 
of the French in Acadia, now called Nova Scotia, 1598. 
and Canada, and those of the former British colo- The pro- 
nies in North America, must apologise for a short of the 
digression here, in taking a cursory notice of the in'^settUng 
early progress of those French settlements. In do- ^or h"^^^" 
ing this it will be necessary to carry the attention of '^'"^^'^-'^ 
the reader a few years back. 

That great and good monarch, Henry IV, of 
France, (having acceded to the throne of that king- 
dom in the year 1589,) as soon as he had defeated 
his enemies, the Guise faction, and obtained quiet 
possession of the crown, with a liberality of mind, 
which always marked his character, issued his edict 
of the 4th of July, 1590, whereby he revoked those 
extorted from his predecessor by the Leaguers, and 
established religious liberty of conscience through- 
out his dominions. A restless disposition, however, 
which appears to have too much attended the con- 
duct of the Hugonots or Protestants of France, 



m 



INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, throughout their unhappy civil wars of the six- 



V, 



teenth century, did not permit them to rest quiet 
1598. with these concessions of Henry.-* Indeed, as he 
had been a Protestant and one of their leaders, and 
had obtained the crown principally by their means, 
they might naturally look up to him for greater fa- 
vours than a mere toleration. Be this as it may, 
he thought it proper to yield to the importunities of 
their deputies, who had for that purpose waited up- 
on him at Nantz, where he then was, by issuing 
another edict, bearing date the 13th of April, 1598, 
since well known and celebrated in history under 
the emphatic denomination of " The Edict of 
Nantz ;" the revocation of which by Louis the 
fourteenth, in the year 1685, is said to have been 
productive of much mischief to France for many 
succeeding years. By this edict of Henry, the 
Protestants were, not only restored to the free en- 
joyment of their religion, and a safe protection in 
their civil rights by the establishment of particular 
tribunals of justice for them, but they were also 
advanced to an almost equal share of political liber- 
ty, by a free admission to all employments of trust, 
profit, and honour in the state, f 

France, having thus recovered some tranquillity 
after fifty years of internal commotion since her last 
attempts at colonisation in 1549, J was now enabled 

* The Hugonots, or Pi'otestants of France, are said to 
have been at this time, about a twelfth part of the nation. — > 
Voltaire's Age of Lewis XIV, Vol. 2, p. 183. 

t Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 24. p. 334, 342, 377. 

\ See before, p. 41. 

I 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 113 

to exercise again, the enterprising talents of her citi- sect. 
zens. In the same year in which the Protestants ^^.^^^^^ 
obtained from Henry tlie edict of Nantes, (1598,) i598. 

-' A seltle- 

the Marquis de la Roche, a Breton genUeman, re-mcntof 

. . „ 1 -I • • • ^ convicts 

ceivnig from the kmg a commission to conquer ^^ tj^e isie 
Canada, and other countries, not possessed by any Jy^hg^^^' 
Christian prince, sailed from France, in quality of French, 
lord-lieutenant of those countries, taking with him 
a person of the name of Chetodel, of Normandy, for 
his pilot. The marquis, having most absurdly 
pitched upon the isle of Sables, (which lies about 
fifty leagues to the south-east of Cape Breton, is 
about ten leagues in circumference, and is itself a 
mere sand-bank,) as a proper place for a settlement, 
left there about forty malefactors, the refuse of the 
French jails.* The history of those poor wretches, 
contains the history of the expedition. The mar- 
quis, after cruising for some time on the coast of 
Nova Scotia, returned to France, without being able 
to carry them off the miserable island ; and is said 
to have died of grief for having lost all his interest 
at that court. As for his wretched colony, they 
must all have perished, had not a French ship been 
wrecked upon the island, and a few sheep driven 
upon it at the same time. With the boards of the 
wreck, they erected huts ; with the sheep, they sup- 
ported nature : and when they had eat them up, they 
lived on fish. Their clothes wearing out, they made 
coats of seal's skins ; and in this miserable condi- 
tion, they spent seven years, till Henry IV ordered 

* See a like colony of convicts authorised by the commis- 
sion to Quartier, before mentioned, and referred to in a neta 
in p. 40. 

i 



If4 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. Chetodel to go and bring them back to France, 
s^-S^^^ Chetodel found only twelve of them alive ; and 
1598. when he returned, Henry had the curiosity to see 
them in their seal-skin dresses. Their appearance 
moved this generous and humane monarch so much, 
that he ordered them a general pardon for their 
offences, and gave each of them fifty crowns to be- 
gin the world with anew.* 

Though la Roche's patent had been very ample 
and exclusive, yet private adventurers still conti- 
, nued to trade to the river St. Lawrence, without any 
notice being taken of them by the government. 
Amongst others was one Pontgrave, a merchant of 
St. Malo, who kid made several trading voyages 
for furs, to Tadoussac.f Upon the death of the 
jNIarquis de la Roche, his patent was renewed in fa- 
\'our of Mons. de Chauvin, a commander in the 
French navy, who put himself under the direction 
of Pontgrave ; as the latter might justly be suppo- 
sed, from his frequent trading voyages to that coun- 
try, to have acquired a considerable knowledge of 
1600. it. In the year 1600, Chauvin, attended by Pont- 
ciiauvin's grave, made a voyage to Tadoussac, where he left 
to^ihrst. some of his people, and returned with a very pro- 
Laurence.^^^j^j^ quantity of furs to France. These people, 
\vhom he left, would have perished by hunger or 
disease, during the following winter, but for the 
compassion of the nati> es. Chauvin, in tlie next 

• Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 408. 

t Tadoussac is a town, or place, at the mouth of the Sa- 
. guenay, a small river emptying into the St. Lawrence from 
.the north, considerably below Quebec, and ninety leagues 
from the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 1%$^ 

year, (1601,) made a^econd voyage with the same sect. 
good fortune as the first, and sailed up the St. Law- v^^,!>^ 
rence as high as Trois Rivieres ; but while prepar- i60i., 
ing for a third voyage, (in the year after,) he died. 

The many specimens of profit to be made by the 
Canadian trade, led the public to think favourably 
of it. M. de Chatte, the governour of Dieppe, 
succeeded Chauvin as governour of Canada. De 
Chatte's scheme seems to have been, to have carried 
on that trade with France, by a compan}^ of Rouen 
merchants and adventurers. An armament for this 
purpose, was accordingly equipped, and the com- 
mand of it given to Pontgrave, with powers to ex- 
tend his discoveries up the river St. Lawrence. 
Pontgrave, with his squadron, sailed in 1603, hav- 
ing in his company Samuel Champlain, afterwards p^^^^ ' 
the famous founder of Quebec, who had been a&'"^''^'^ 

voyage up 

captain in the navy, and was a man of talents and the st. 

... mi 1 1 p 1 • Lawreivce. 

enterprise. Arrivmg at 1 adoussac, they leit their 
ships there, and in a long-boat they proceeded up 
the river as far as the falls of St. Louis, and then re- 
turned to France. 

While Pontgrave was engaged in this voyage of ^,,^g gj^^j. 
1603, De Chatte died, and was succeeded in his pa- ^^ Mont's 

' _ * _ commis- 

tent by Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts, styled in sion, and 
the king's commission to him, " gentilhomme ordi- under it. 
naire de notre chambre." The tenor of his letters 
patent, (as we have it at large in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 45,) bearing date November 8th, 
1603, appears to have been as well for colonising 
the country then called Acadie, (which compre- 
hended Canada, as well as what is now called Nova 
Scotia,) as for encouraging the fur-trade carried on 



?II6 INTRODUCIION TO A 

SECT, there. A difference of opinio i is said to have takefi 

V 

K^y^^^.^^ place, on the occasion of granting these letters pa- 
1604. tent, between king Henry and his very able minis- 
ter, the duke of Sully. The duke declared round- 
ly, that all settlements in America above the fortieth 
degree of north latitude, could be of no utility ; and 
that all pretended advantages insisted upon in their 
favour, vv^ere but so many commercial chimeras. 
Here again, (observes the historian,*) the monarch 
was right and the minister vrrong, as we know by 
experience. By these letters patent, the Sieur de 
Monts was constituted and appointed the king's 
lieutenant-general, to represent his person, in the 
country, territor}^, coasts, and confines of Acadie, 
from the fortieth degree of north latitude to the 
forty-sixth. The extent of this portion of the con- 
tinent was, from that part of the coast of New Jer- 
sey, in the latitude of Philadelphia, to the northern 
extremity of Cape Breton. Had the Sieur de Monts 
fixed his settlement or colony, at this time, on that 
part of the continent as low as, or near to the fortieth 
degree, which he might have done, the country be- 
ing then unsettled by any Europeans, and entirely 
open to him, very different indeed might have been 
the present situation of affairs in North America. 
But it is probable, that as all northern furs are said 
to be much better than those of a southern climate, 
the French found greater profits from that trade in 
Canada, than the English did from the southern part 
of the continent, which they were at this time ex- 
ploring. The Sieur de Monts, was therefore, soon 

» Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 24, p. 406. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. %(L^ 

enabled to form a company under his patent, more sect. 
-considerable than any that had yet undertaken that .^^.^^^^^ 
trade. For their further encouragement, it seems, i6u4. 
the king, soon after the former patent to the Sieur 
de Monts, granted also to him and his associates, 
an exclusive right to the commerce of peltry in 
Acadie, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thus en- 
couraged, they fitted out four ships. De Monts, in 
person, took the command of two of them, and was 
attended by Champlain, and a gentleman called 
Pontrincourt, with a number of volunteer adventu- 
rers.* Another of the ships was destined to carry 
on the fur trade at Tadoussac ; and the fourth was 

* Some were Protestants and some Catholics. De Monts 
himself was a Calvinist ; but the king allowed him and his 
people the exercise of their religion in America. A passage 
is cited in Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 147, from Charlevoix, 
wherein it is said, that De Monts engaged on his part, to esta- 
blish the Catholic religion among the natives. But the origi- 
nal letters patent, as in Hazard's Collections, above-cited, do 
not warrant this assertion ; and it is not probable, from the 
well known character of Henry, that any such stipulation was 
made by verbal agreement. It is true, that in the preamble 
of the letters patent, Henry sets forth his resolution, (as was 
usual in the first planting of America, both North and South,) 
to cause the native inhabitants of that country to be converted, 
" au Christianisme et en la creance et profession de notre foi 
et religion." But this seems to be explained further along in 
the letters, where he authorises De Monts, " les (peuples) ap- 
peler, faire instruire, provoquer et emouvoir a la connoissance 
de Dieu et a la lumiere de la foi et religion chretienne." It is 
not impossible, but that Charlevoix, being of the order of Je- 
suits, might very dextrously suppose, that the Christian reli- 
gion could mean nothing else than the Catholic religion, and 
so set it down. 



118 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, given to Pontgrave, who was ordered, after touch- 



V. 



ing at Canso, (the eastern extremity of Nova Sco- 
1604. tia) to scour the sea between Cape Breton and St. 
John's islands, and to clear it of all interlopers. 

De Monts, with his two ships, sailed from Havre 
de Grace on the 7th of March, 1604, and, after a 
passage of only one month, aiTived at Cap de la 
Heve, in Nova Scotia. In a harbour very near this 
cape, to the southwest, he met with an interloping 
vessel, commanded by one Rossignol, a Frenchman, 
who was trading there with the Indians without 
license; for which reason he seized his ship and 
cargo, and called the harbour Port Rossignol. 
Coasting thence further to the southwest, he arrrived 
at another haven, which his people named Port 
Mutton, on account of a sheep which either leaped 
or tumbled overboard here, and was drowned. From 
this port they coasted the peninsula to the soutli- 
west; doubled Cape Sable, and came to anchor in 
the bay of St. Mary. They afterwards proceeded 
to examine an extensive bay on the northwest of the 
peninsula, to which they gave the name of La Baye 
Francois, but which is now called the Bay of Fun- 
dy. On the southeastern side of this bay they dis- 
covered a narrow strait, into which they entered, and 
soon found themselves in a spacious bason, envi- 
roned with hills, and bordered with fertile meadows. 
Pontrincourt was so delighted with this place, that 
he determined to make it his residence, and propos- 
ed to send for his family, and settle there. Upon 
which De Monts, in virtue of his commission, made 
him a grant of it; and Pontrincourt gave it the name 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 119 

of Port Royal, which grant was afterwards, in the sect. 
year 1607, confirmed to him by Henry IV. It has ^^^.^^^ 
since been known by the name of Annapolis Royal. i604. 
From Port Royal or Annapolis, De Monts sailed 
still further up the Bay of Fundy, in search of a 
copper mine, then said to lie at the head of that bay. 
While De Monts w^as thus engaged in his coasting 
voyage, Champlain, who had been despatched in a 
long-boat, immediately after their arrival at Cap de 
la Heve, to search for a proper place for a settlement, 
in examining the Bay of Fundy, pursuant to the 
instructions of De Monts, came to a large river on 
the northwest side of the bay, which he called St. 
John's, originally called by the natives Ouy-gondy. 
From this river, Champlain coasted the bay south- 
tvestwardly twenty leagues, until he came to an- 
other ri\'er, in exploring which he met Avith a small 
island, in the middle of that river, and about half a 
league in circumference, to which he gave the name 
of VIsle de St. Croix, This island he deemed to 
be a proper situation on which they might begin a 
settlement. He was soon followed thither by De 
Monts, who resolved to build a fort, and pass the 
winter there. This they did, but from their account 
they must have endured great hardships. The in- 
sular situation of the settlement precluded them from 
many advantages. When the winter came on, which 
was said to have been severe, they found themselves 
without fresh water, without wood for firing, and 
without fresh provisions. These inconveniences 
soon filled the little colony with diseases, particu- 
larly the scurvy. By the ensuing spring thirty-six 



120 INTROnUCTIOX TO A 

SECT, of the colonists had died, and forty of them only 
^^^-v-^^/ were left alive. These considerations determined 
1605. De Monts to remove his colony across the bay to 
Port Royal. The buildings at St. Croix were left 
standing,* but all the stores, &c. were removed. 
New houses were erected at the mouth of the river 
L'Eqiiille, which empties itself into the basin of 
Port Royal, and here the people and stores were 
lodged. These incidents, however induced De 
Monts to look out for a more comfortable situation 
in a warmer climate. With that view he sailed 
southwardly along the coast to Penobscot, Kenne- 
bec, Caseo, Saco, and ultimately to Malebarre, 

* The river in which L'isle de St. Croix lies, is called the 
Scoodich, which was the original name given it by the na- 
tives, but it is also called thu St. Croix ; and being part of the 
boundary between the territory of the United Stales and the 
British province of New Brunswick, it has become a stream 
of considerable importance. After the treaty of 1783, by 
which the river St. Croix was made a boundary, it became a 
question which was the real St. Croix; whether the river 
known by the name of Scoodich, or that known by the name 
of Magaguadavick. It has, however, been satisfactorily de- 
determined, by commissioners appointed for that purpose, 
that the Scoodich is the river, originally named St. Croix, and 
the line has been settled accordingly. Professor Webber, 
who accompanied the commissioners in 1798, informed Mr. 
Holmes, that they found an island in this river, corresponding 
to the French descriptions of the island St. Croix, and near 
the upper end of it, the remains of a very ancient fortification, 
overgrown with large trees, that the foundation stones were 
traced to a considerable extent; and that bricks (a specimen of 
which he showed Mr. Holmes,) were found there. There is 
no doubt that these were the reliques of De Monts's fortifica- 
tion. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 149. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 121 

which was at that time the French name of Cape sect. 
Cod. He explored divers of these rivers, bays, and ^^.^.-v-i^^^ 
harbours: particularly the Kennebec, up which he i605, 
went a considerable distance. But the natives ap- 
pearing numerous and unfriendly, and his company 
being small, he returned to St. Croix, and then to 
Port Royal, where he found Pontgrave, in a ship 
from France, with supplies, and a reinforcement of 
forty men. Having put his affairs into good order, 
he embarked for France in September, 1605, leav- 
ing Pontgrave as his lieutenant, with Champlain and 
Champelore to perfect the settlement and explore 
the country. 

M. de Monts, on his arrival in France, found, His patent 

revoked. 

that endeavours had been made to prepossess the 
French court against his views. The masters of 
the fishing vessels, who frequented the coast of Aca- 
die and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which fishery is 
said to have been the best trade the French then had, 
represented to the ministry, that De Monts, on pre- 
tence of preventing the fur trade with the natives, 
to which by his patent he had an exclusive right, 
kept them from the necessaries fit for fishing, and 
that they were upon the point of abandoning the 
fisheries. They succeeded so far that De Monts's 
patent was revoked. This did not, however, en- 
tirely discourage him. He entered into new engage- 
ments with Pontrincourt, who was then likewise in 
France. 

Pontrincourt sailed asrain for America, in the „ \^?^' 

o ' 1 ontnn- 

year 1606, in an armed vessel from Rochelle. The <;""''t's en- 
deavours 
colony which had been left at Port Royal under the to fix a set- 
care of Pontgrave, was, by die time of the arri- port kov- 



122 IKTRODUCTION TO A 

SFCT. val of Pontgrave ofF Cape Canso, reduced to such 

s,^-^^^-^^ difficulties, that Pontrincourt was obhged to reem- 

1606. barjj: all the inhabitants but two, w horn he left to 

, X- take care of the effects he could not carr)^ off. How- 

al, Nova -' 

Scotia, ever, before he got out of the Bay of Fundy he 
heard of Pontrincourt's arrival at Canso, upon 
which he returned to Port Royal, where, about the 
same time, Pontrincourt arri^ td. The relief which 
Pontrincourt brought to this infant colony, came so 
sieasonably, that it again held up its head; but its 
prosperity is said to have been in a great measure 
owing to the spirit and abilities of Le Carbot, a 
French lawyer, who, partly from friendship to Pon- 
trincQu^l:, and partly through curiosity, had accom- 
panied him in this \^oyage. It would seem also, 
that about this time Pontgra\ c, said to be the ablest 
man by tlu- of any concerned in these projected set- 
tlements, resigned his command. 
16;;7. In the next year, 1607, Pontrincourt returned to 
De'^Moml ^"r^i^ce, and the king, induced probably by his fa- 
oi)tains a yourablc representations of the country, either con- 
tion of his firmed or rcgranted to the Sieur De Monts his for- 
^'''"' mer exclusive privilege for the fur trade with the 
natives, for the purpose, as it is said, of enabling 
him to establish his colonies in New France. De 
Moists accordingly sent over, in the year 1608, 
three ships with families, to commence a perma- 
nent settlement. Champlain, who took the charge 
of conducting this colony, after examining all the 
most eligible places for settlement in Acadie, and 
the river St. Lawrence, selected a spot at the con- 
fiuence of this river and the St. Charles, another 
small riYtv empt} ing into the former, about three 



HISTORY OF MAUYLANU. 123 

hundred and twenty miles ui) the river St. Lawrence, sect. 

. V 

from the sea. Here, on the third of July, 1608, v^,<-^r^^^ 

he began to erect barracks for lodgings for his peo- 16O8. 

pie, and to clear the ground, which he sowed with l^i"'i,^7'^*" 

wheat and rye, and on this si^ot laid the foundation ^'^*^ '^''^'^ 

of Quebec, the present cai^ital of Canada.* The^ent coio- 

iiy ill C;an- 

succeeding events relative to Acadie and Canada, aik, under 
appertain to the histories of those countries. It isp-^'^,, " 
now our business to return to the at last successful 
attempts of the English at colonisation. 

• Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p 408, 413. Holmes's An- 
nals, Vol. 1, p. 148, 163. 



SECTION VI. 

A new association formed in England, to colonise America — The let- 
ters patent commonly called the first charter of Virginia — Proceed- 
ings of the Plymouth Company under this charter — The kiii(?'s in- 
structions relative to both the colonies or companies to be formed 
under this charter— Proceedings of tlie first or South Virginia Com- 
pany — The first colony sent out to South Virginia under Newport, 
and a permanent settlement formed at James' town. « 

ALTHOUGH one hundred and eighty years sect. 
had now elapsed, since the discovery of the northern ^^^^^..^^.,^„^ 
part of the continent of America, by Cabot, yet the 16O6. 
Enghsh had as yet made no effectual settlement in any f^ "j^^^^'* 
part of this new world. From the coast of Labrador formed in 

„ ., Kngland, 

to the Cape of Florida, not a single European family to colonise 
was to be found, except the small settlement of Spa- 
niards at St. Augustine, and a few French at Port 
Royal, in Acadie. The period, however, of Eng- 
lish colonisation was at length arrived. Through 
the unremitting endeavours of the rev. Mr. Richard 
Hackluyt, before mentioned,* or, as some will have 
it, through the zeal and exertions of captain Bartho- 
lomew Gosnold,t who had made the successful 
voyage of experiment in the year 1602, before 
spoken of, an association was formed in England in 
the year 1606, consisting both of men of rank and 
men of business, who had resoh'ed to repeat the at- 

• Robertson's Hist, of America, Vol. 4, p. 176, 177. 
t Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 220> 
Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 75. 



126 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, tempt to colonise some part of North America. The 



VI. 



former grant made to Sir Walter Raleigh being now 
1606. void by his conviction and attainder for high trea- 
son, for which he now lay imprisoned in the tower, 
it was supposed that a clearer way was thereby 
opened to any subsequent royal grant for the same 
purpose. This association of respectable merchants 
and gentlemen, therefore, now petitioned the king 
for the sanction of his authority, to warrant the ex- 
ecution of their plans. It was not a subject with 
which James was altogether unacquainted : he had 
before this, turned his attention to consider the ad- 
vantages which might be derived from colonies, at 
a time when he patronised his scheme for planting 
them in some of the ruder provinces of his ancient 
kingdom of Scotland, with a view of introducing 
there, industr}^ and civilization.* He was now no 
less fond of directing the active genius of his Eng- 
lish subjects, towards occupations not repugnant to 
his own pacific maxims, and listened with a favour- 
able ear to their application. 
The let- He accordingly, by letters patent bearing date the 
tent lorn- tenth day of April, in the fourth year of his reign, 
"luedthe (A- ^- 1606,) at the desire and request of the ap- 
firstchar- pficauts, divided that portion of North America 
giuia. which stretches from the thirty-fourth to the forty - 
fifth degree of north latitude, into two districts 
nearly equal, and the members of the association 
" into two several colonies and companies ;. the one 
consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants, 

* Robertson's Hist, of America, Vol. 4, p. 178. Also see 
note (G) at the end of this volume. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAXD. 127 

and other adventurers of our city of London^ and sf.ct. 

. . VI. 

elsewhere, which are, and from time to time shall v,^^/--*^ 
be, joined unto them, which do desire to begin ^gog. 
their plantation and habitation in some fit and con- 
venient place, between four-and-thirty and one and- 
forty degrees of the said latitude, alongst the coasts 
of Virginia, and the coasts of America aforesaid : 
and the other consisting of sundr}^ knights, gentle- 
men, merchants, and other adventurers of our cities 
of Bristol and Exeter, and of our town of Plimouthy 
and of otlier places which da join themselves unto " 
that colony, which do desire to begin their planta- 
tion and habitation, in some fit and convenient place 
between eight-and-thirty degrees and five-and-forty 
degrees of the said latitude, all alongst the said 
coasts of Virginia and America, as that coast 
lytth."^ 

• Robertson, in his History of Virginia, (see his Hist, of 
America, Vol. 4, p. 178,) seems to make the above division 
of the continent of America, an act of the king himself, as- 
sifjning the reason of that division to have been, that " a grant 
of the whole of such a vast region to any one body of men, 
however respectable, appeared to the king an act of impolitic 
and profuse liberaiiiy. In his History of New England (same 
Vol. p. 255,) he seems to assign a difi'erent reason: " tliis ar- 
rangement (meaning the division above-mentioned) seems to 
have been formed upon the idea of some speculative refiner, 
Wiio aimed at diffusing the spirit of industry by fixingtheseat 
of one branch of the trade that was now to be opened, on the 
east coast of the island, (^Great Britain,) and the other on the 
West." But whoever w 11 attentively read the letters patent, 
will see that this division was made at the 8ji<;ciul instance and 
request, of the association. It is probable, indeed, that the vast 
extent of the country to be colonised might have suggested to 
the asseciators a reason for requesting it to be divided into two 




128 fNTRODUCTION TO A 

And granted, " that Sir Thomas Gates, Sir 
George Somers, Richard Hackluyt, and Edward 
1606. Maria Wingfield, adventurers of and for our city of 
London, and all such others, as are, or shall be 
joined unto them of that colony, shall be called the 
first colony ; and they shall, and may begin their 
said first plantation and habitation, at any place upon 
the said coast of Virginia or America, where they 
shall think fit and convenient, between the said four- 
and-thirty and one-and-forty degrees of the said la- 
' titude ; and that they shall have all the lands, &c. 
from the said first seat of their plantation and habi- 
tation by the space of fifty miles of English statutes 
measure, all along the said coast of Virginia and 
America, towards tlie west and southwest, as the 
coast Iveth, with all the islands within one hundred 
miles directly over against the same sea-coast ; and 
also all the lands, &c. from the said place of their 
first plantation, &:c. for the space of fifty like Eng- 
lish miles, all alongst the said coasts, &c. towards 
the east and northeast, or towards the north, as the 
coast lyeth, together with all the islands, &c. and 
also all the lands, &c. from the same fifty miles every 
way on the sea- coast, directly into the main land, by 
the space of one hundred like English miles." 
And likewise granted, "that Thomas Hanham 

colonies. See Hubbard M. S. N. Eng. 29, cited in Holmes's 
i^nnals, Vol. I, p. 152, note 1. To which may be added also, 
the probability, that as many of the associators resided in De- 
vonshire, at Exeter, and Plymouth, the convenience of a se- 
parate arrangement into two trading companies, might have 
been a further reason for the division. See Oldmixon's Bri- 
tish Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 26, 



HISTORY OF MAR\*LAND, 129 

and Raleigh Gilbert, *^ William Parker and George sect. 
Popham, and all others of the town of Plimouth^ in ,^^^,-^^^>^. 
the county of Devon, or elsewhere, which are, or 16O6. 
shall be joined unto them of that colony, shall be 
jcalled the second colony ; and that they shall and 
may begin their plantation. Sec. at any place between 
eight-and-tliirty and five-and-forty degrees of the 
same latitude, &c." (with the like limitations as be». 
fore to the first colony.) 

" Provided always, that the plantation and habita- 
tion of such of the said colonies, as shall last plant 
themselves, as aforesaid, shall not be made within 
one hundred like English miles of the other of them, 
that first began to make their plantation, as afore- 
said." 

" And we do also ordain, establish, and agree, 
that each of the said colonies shall have a council, 
which shall govern and order all matters and causes 
which shall arise within the same several colonies, 
according to such laws, ordinances, and instruc- 
tions, as shall be, in that behalf, given and signed 
with our hand or sign manual, and pass under the 
privy seal of our realm of England : each of which 
councils shall consist of thirteen persons, to be or- 
dained, made, and removed, from time to time, ac- 
cording as shall be directed and comprised in the 
same instructions." 

" And that also there shall be a council establish- 
ed here in England, which shall, in like manner, 
consist of thirteen persons, to be, for that purpose, 

* Son of the famous navigator before-mentioned. Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 270. 



J 30 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SKCT. appointed by us, our heirs, and successors, which 
,,^J!^X^ shall be called our coimcil ofFirgiiiia ; which shall, 
1606. from time to time, have the superior direction of all 
matters concerning the government of the said colo- 
nies."* 

He moreover granted license to the several coun- 
cils of the said colonies, to cause search to be made 
for mines of gold, silver, and copper, yielding to 
him the fifth part of the gold and silvcr,t and the 
fifteenth of the copper, that should be got there- 
from ; and to cause money to be coined. 

He likewise authorised each of the aforesaid com- 
panies, to take to the said plantations and colonies, 
as many of his subjects as would wiUingly accom- 
pany them. Provided that none of the said persons 
should be such, as should thereafter be specially re- 
strained by him, his heirs, or successors. 

He moreover granted license to the said colonies, 
for their several defences, to encounter, expulse, re- 

* The reader cannot but observe here, a considerable simi- 
litude, if there was not an intended imitation, of the Spanish 
mode of governing their colonies, adopted shortly after their 
conquests of Mexico and Peru, early in the sixteenth century, 
about the year 1511. Their colonies in America were divid- 
ed into two viceroy-ships, north and south, of which Mtxico 
and Peru were the principal provinces. Over these, the royal 
council of the Indien, (permanently held in the mother coun- 
try, in the place where the monarch resides, and in which 
council he is supposed to be always present), has the supreme 
government of all the Spanish dominions in America. See 
Robertson's Hist, of America, (book 8,) Vol. 4, p. 19. 

t This was the proportion reserved by the king of Spain, 
ffom the Spanish mines of gold and silver in America. Har- 
'' ris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 164. Robertson's Hist, of America, 
Vol. 4, p. 366, note 34. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 131 

pel, and resist all such persons, as, without their skct. 
special license, should attempt either to inhabit ^^^.^j 
within their several precincts, or annoy them. i^us. 

He authorised also, each of the said colonies, to 
take all persons, with their vessels and goods, who 
should be found trafficking in any harbour, creek, 
or place within their respective limits, not being of 
the same colony, until they should agree to pay into 
the hands of the treasurer of that colony, within 
whose precincts they should so traffick ; if the king's 
subjects, two and a half per cent, upon the wares 
and merchandises so trafficked ; if strangers, five per 
cent. : which sums of money, for one-and-twenty 
years next ensuing the date of the letters patent, 
should be appropriated to the use of the plantation, 
where such traffick should be made ; at the end of 
which period, to be to the use of the king.* 

Also, that the said colonies might import out of 
any of the king's dominions into their respective 
plantations, all goods whatever, without paying any 
duty thereon, for the space of seven years next en- 
suing the date of the said letters patent. 

He also declared, that all persons who should 
dwell and inhabit within either of the said colonies, 
and their children born therein, should have and en- 

* Robertson (in his Hist, of America, book 9, Vol. 1, p. 
181,) has construed this clause as giving to these colonies, 
" the unlimited permission of trade with foreigners," and 
mentions it as one of the articles in it "unfavourable to the 
interest of the parent state, as it deprived the parent state of 
that exclusive commerce, which has been deemed tlie chief 
advantage resulting from the establishment of colonies." It 
demonstrates, however, that James was, at this timej sincer^^ 
in his encouragement of these colonies.. 



13^ INTRODUCTIOX TO A 

joy all liberties, franchises, and immunities, as if 
they had been abiding, or born m ithin the realm of 
1606. England. 

And finally, that all lands in each of the said co- 
lonies should be held of the king, his heirs and suc- 
cessors, as of his manor of East- Greenwich, in the 
comity of Kent, in free and common soccage only, 
and not in capite.* 

The most remarkable clauses in these letters pa- 
tent, are those which prescribe the mode of govern^ 
ment for these colonies, to wit : that the councils in 
each colony should govern according to such laws, 
ordinances, and instructions, as should be given and 
signed by the king ; and that he should have die 
power of appointment and removal of all such per- 
sons as should compose the two councils in the co- 
lonies, as well as those at home forming the council 
qfV'irgmm. It must be ackno\^"ledged, that these 
clauses do not explicitly invest the king with the 
power of making the laws, ordinances, and instruc- 
tions, since the latter of them particularly provides 
that the council of Virginia should have the superior 
management and direction of all matters that shall, 
or may concern the government of the said colonies ; 
which seems to imply, that t4ie council of Virginia 
at home, should have the power of making such 
laws, ordinances, and instructions, to be approved 
of and signed by the king. This construction seems 
to be warranted by Avhat is called the second charter 
of Virginia^ (in 1609,) wherein it is expressly so 

^ * See the letters patent at large in Hazard's Collections., 
V^ol. Ij p. jO. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAXa 13Z 

provided. But the power of appointment and re- sbct. 
moval, as before-mentioned, certainly \ ested a great ^„^^-v->^ 
preponderating influence with the king; and he' i6C6. 
might, without doubt, propound to the council at 
home, what laws, ordinances, and instructions he 
pleased, or might reject any proposed by them. 
These clauses, indeed, ai-e not to be reconciled to 
the present ideas of jjolitical liberty entertained in 
either America or England. The principles of an 
elective and representative government, were deve- 
loped by the English revolutionists, in 1690, with 
such wisdom and moderation, and have been che- 
rished by their descendants in America with so, 
much ardour, that there are few readers among us 
at this day, who would approve of a mode of go- 
vernment so repugnant to those principles. But it 
ought to be remembered, as the best historian of 
England has clearly demonstrated,* that the two 
first English princes of the house of Stuart, were 
not tyrants in their natural disposition. There is 
strong presumption, that James the first sincerely 
believed, that his prerogative was, by the English 
constitution, paramount to the laws; or, at least, 
that ^vhere parliament had made no provision, his 
proclamations, in virtue of his sovereign authority, 
v;ere the substitutes of laws. And although his 
son Charles, instigated by tlie unprincipled Buck- 
ingham, manifested at the first of his reign, a strong 
inclination to reiKler himself despotic, yet much al- 
lowance is to be made for him, on account of ' liis 
dxlucation under his father, from whom he would 
naturally im.bibe all that monarch's metaphysic no- 

* Hame. 



134 INTllODUCTION TO A 

SECT, tions of the J lire divino power of kings.* It is cer- 
^^^^!X>^ tain that the arbitrary conduct of their immediate 
1606. predecessors of the Tudor line, particularly queen 
Elizabeth and Henry VIII, seemed too strongly to 
authorise them in these sentiments. Although 
James's English subjects began in his reign to hold 
the privileges of parliament and the power of the 
house of commons in higher estimation than for- 
merly, yet the temper of the age was not then such 
as to view with much scrutiny or jealousy such 
small aberrations from the fundamental principles of 
a representative government as were to be found in 
an abstract clause of a Charles, as yet unexecuted. 
It was therefore without hesitation or reluctance, 
that the patentees of these colonies prepared, under 
the authority of this charter, to execute their respec- 
tive plans. 
Proceed- Although only four gentlemen are specially na- 
vivnilfuth i«ed in the foregoing letters, as patentees for the 
Company second colouy, yet the general expression, " and all 
ciiaiter. othcrs of the town of Plymouth, in the county of De- 
von, or elsewhere, who shall be joined unto them of 
that colony," — necessarily implied the association of 
other persons with them for the purpose of mana- 
ging the affairs of the second colony, which asso- 
ciation now assumed the indiscriminate appellations 
of the Plymouth Company, and the North Virginia 
colony. Accordingly, we find mention made of 
the interference of so high and respectable a charac- 

* Voltaire's character of Charles seems to be just: " He 
was a good husband, a good master, a good father, and an 
honest man : but he was an ill-advised king." ^ge of Louis' 
XIV, Vol. I, p. 19. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 135 



VI. 

1606. 



ter as Sir John Popham, lord chief justice of Eng- sect 
land, as one of the members of the Plymouth Com- ^ 
pany, and a great promoter of the design. Mr. 
George Popham, one of the patentees, was his bro- 
ther.* Sir Ferdinando Gorges, then governor of 
Plymouth, and several other west- countrymen and 
merchants are mentioned also as being concerned in 
this company, t They seem to have been more ex- 
peditious than the members of the London Compa- 
ny, in their first attempts to carry into effect the in- 
tentions of the Charter. In August, 1606, they dis- 
patched a ship of fifty tons, under the command of 
Henry Challons, to make further discovery of the 
coasts of North Virginia ; and, if it should appear 
expedient, to leave as many men, as he could spare, 
in the country. On his passage, however, from the 
West India islands towards the American coast, he 
and his crew, consisting of about thirty persons, 
were taken by a Spanish fleet, and carried into Spain, 
where his vessel was confiscated. Although this 
misfortune considerably abated the ardour of the 
Plymouth company; yet the lord chief justice Pop- 

• Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts, Vol. 1, p. 10. 

t Oldmixon's British Emp. in America, Vol. 1, p. 26. — It 
may be proper to observe here, that, although the two colo- 
nies were to be under the direction and government of the 
king- and his council of Virginia^ yet the associators who ap- 
plied to the king for his letters patent became thereby divi- 
ded also into two mercantile or trading companies, one at 
London, the other at Plymouth, the former as proprietors of 
the first or South Virginia colony, and the latter as proprie- 
tors of the second or North Virginia colony, but each colony 
subject to the " laws, ordinances, and instructions" of tht 
kini^ and his council of Virginia. 



136 INTRODUCTION TO A i 

SECT, ham having, immediately after the departure of 
^^^^^-.^-i^^ Challons, sent out, at his own expense, another ship, I 

J606. under the command of Thomas Hanam, one of the 
patentees, whose business was not so much to settle 
a colony as to make discoveiy in order thereto, the 
account given of the country on the return of this 
ship was so fa\ourable as to cherish in a considera- 
ble degree the spirit of enterprise necessary for fur- 
ther undertakings.* 
The Mean-while, in order to effectuate the purpose of 

l^stmc- ^^^^ letters patent, a set of instructions, under the 
ti -i^-kinsr's privy seal, relative to both colonies or com- 

tiveto b 1 . ' 

bcui coio- panics, in pursuance of the before-mentioned impor- 
tant clause in these letters, were made out on the 
twentieth of November, in the same year. Whe- 
ther these instructions were drawn up by the king 
himself, history does not expressly say.f As James 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 270, and Holmes's Annals, 
Vol. 1, p. l54, where it is said, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
observed, on this occasion, that Martin Pring(or Prinn) who 
"went with Hanam in this voyage, (and who had commanded 
tiie voyage of discovery in the year 1603, as before mentioned,) 
brought, on his return from this last-mentioned voyage, the 
most exact account of the Virginia coast, that ever came to J 

his hand. What part of the American coast they visited does 
not appear in modern authors who mention this voyage. The 
particulars of it, however, are probably to be found in Pur- 
chas's Pilgrimages. 

t Marshall (in his Life of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 25,) calls 
them a Code of Laws, framed by the king, for the govern- 
ment of the colonies. This would impress the reader with an 
idea, that James in his vanity, had compiled a volume of laws 
for the occasion. But a recurrence to the instrument will 
show that the title of " Orders and Instructions for the colo* 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 13* 

was not a little vain of his talents as a writer, and sect. 
not much less so as a legislator, there is great pro- ^ ^' 
bability that they were the dictates of his o^vll i6u6 
mind. If the arbitrary power which he supposed 
to be annexed to the prerogative of his crown, be 
allowed him, there is nothing in them but what was 
consonant to his usual exercise of that preroga- 
tive, and apparently necessary to carry into eftect the 
provisions of the charter. 

The patentees or proprietors of the^r^^ or South Proceed- 
Virginia colomj, proceeded with more effect, though filS or ^^ 
not with so much expedition, as those of the second vh"li!,ia 
colony. On the receipt of their letters patent, pre- company. 
parations for the purpose had been undertaken by 
three small vessels, one of a hundred tons, another 
of forty, and a pinnace of twenty, with everything 
requisite for settling a colony, consisting of one 
hundred and five persons, were provided by the lat- 
ter end of the year, and the naval command thereof, 
together with the care of transporting the colony, 
was entrusted to capt. Christopher Newport, said to 
be " a mariner of celebrity and experience on the 
American coast." 

Besides the set of " orders and instructions," 
under the king's privy seal before-mentioned, two 
other several sets of instructions were given by the 
South Virginia Company, on this occasion. One 
to capt. Cliristopher Newport, concerning the naval 
command and transportation of the colony: the 

nies," which other v/riters give it, is more correct. Hohnes's 
Annals, Vol. 1, p. 153. — See them nearly at large, in Bark's 
Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 85. 



138 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. Other, to him, (Newport,) in conjunction with capt. 
'^/^VN^ Bartholomew Gosnold and capt. John RatchfFe, re- 
1606. specting the form and administration of the govern- 
ment. These last, being the most important, were 
close sealed, and accompanied with orders that they 
were not to be opened for twenty -four hours after 
their arrival on the coast of Virginia. To these 
were added also by his majesty, by way of advice, 
instructions of a general nature; containing, how- 
ever, one or two strange particulars, concerning a 
communication by some river or lake between Vir- 
ginia and the Indian or South Sea.* 
The first This little squadron sailed from Blackwall, on 
semTuttothe Thames, on the twentieth of December, 1606; 
gtnilTu^"' but by some unlucky accidents, were for several 
tier New- ^^ecks detained on the coast of England. At last, 

port, and ^ . , . 

a perma- thcy coutiuucd their voyage, and havmg taken m 
tiemeiit frcsh watcr and other necessaries at the Canaries, 
jame^s^ ""^ proceeded to the Caribbee islands, where they arri- 
town. ^^^ Qj^ ^j^g twenty-tliird of Februar}^, 1607, and staid 
amongst them, but chiefly in the island of Nevis, 
about five weeks. These delays seem to have af- 
forded nourishment to some violent dissensions, 
which arose, during the voyage among the adventu- 
rers. Jealousy of power, and envy of preferment, 
seem to have been at the bottom of them. Symp- 
toms of these dissensions made their appearance be- 
fore the squadron had cleared the English coast, but 
they were in some measure allayed, it seems, by 
the prudent conduct and pious exhortations of their 
chaplain, the rev. Mr. Hunt. They, however, 

* Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 93. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 1^ 

eventuated in the arrest of capt. John Smith, on the sect. 

'^ VI 

absurd charge of an intention to murder the council, ^_^r>r^ 
usurp the government, and make himself king of 1607. 
Virginia; and he was accordingly kept in close con- 
finement during the remainder of the voyage. Smith 
was, perhaps, the most extraordinary personage, of 
whom the early histories of North America have 
made mention. The accounts of his adventures in 
the east of Europe, seem rather to have been boi^- 
rowed from some romance of the thirteenth century 
than taken from any real scenes of life. After these 
adventures, he had returned to England, his native 
country, and had accidentally formed an acquaint- 
ance with captain Gosnold, in the height of the 
zeal of the latter for colonising America. Gosnold 
rightly conceiving that Smith's active genius was 
peculiarly fitted for such an undertaking, communi- 
cated his schemes to him. They were ardently em- 
braced by him, and he embarked with the other co- 
lonists for America. 

Thus disturbed by internal dissensions, the little 
fleet left the West Indies, on the third of April, 
1607, but not fallmg in with the land for tliree days 
after their reckoning was out, serious propositions 
were made for returning to England. The place 
of their destination was the old disastrous situation 
at Roanoke; but fortunately they were overtaken by 
a storm, which drove them to the mouth of the 
Chesapeake, which they entered on the twenty- sixth 
of April. The promontory on the south side of the 
entrance into the bay, they called Cape Henry, in 
honour of the then prince of Wales, who died not . 



140 INTHODUCTTON TO ▲ 

SRCT. long afterwards, and that on the north side Cape 
^^-y.>^ Charles, in honour of the then duke of York, who 
i6or. -vvas afterwards king Charles I, of England. Impa- 
tient to land, a party of about thirty men went on 
shore at Cape Henry, to recreate and refresh them- 
selves, but they were suddenly and boldly attacked 
by only five savages, who wounded two of them 
ver}' dangerously. A large and beautiful river 
which empties itself into the bay, on the west of 
Cape Henry, naturally first invited their attention. 
It was in that season of the year when the country 
is clothed in its richest verdure, and seemed to pre- 
sent itself to them dressed in its most attractive 
charms. In search of some fit place for a settle- 
ment, they proceeded up this river, to which they 
gave the name of James, in honour of his majesty; 
though called by the natives Powhatan^ probably 
in honour of their grand chief or sovereign, who 
occasionally dwelt on its banks. Near the mouth 
of this river they met with five of the natives, who 
invited them to their town, Kecoughtan, or Kicho- 
tan, where Hampton now stands. Here those who 
went on shore were feasted with cakes made of In- 
dian com, and ^' regaled with tobacco and a dance."* 
In return, they presented to the natives beads and 
other trinkets. As they proceeded further up the 
river^ another company of Indians appeared in 
arms. Their chief Apamatica, holding in one hand 
his bow and arrows, and in the other a pipe of to- 
bacco, demanded the cause of their coming. They 
made signs of peace, and were received in a friend- 

• Smith's Hist, of Virginia. 



HISTORY OF MAIIYLAND. 14,1 

ly manner. On further exploring the river they sf.ct. 
came to a peninsula, situated on the north side of v^rw** 
it, where they were also hospitably received by the ^^7. 
natives, whose chief Paspiha, being informed of 
their intentions, offered them as much land as they 
wanted, and sent them a deer for their entertain- 
ment. As this peninsula was so situated as not 
only to afford them convenient anchorage, but some 
security against any invasion of the natives, it was 
fixed upon as the most eligible spot for their first 
colonisation. Accordingly they here debarked on 
the 13th of May, and called the place James' town, 
which name it has ever since retained. The sealed 
instructions before-mentioned being now opened, it 
was found, that Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, 
Edward Maria Wingfield, Christopher Newport, 
John Maitin, John Ratcliffe, and George Kendall, 
were appointed counsellors, who being duly sworn, 
proceeded, according to the king's instruction un- 
der the privy seal before-mentioned, to elect tlieir 
president, of which their choice fell upon Edward 
Maria Wingfield. They excluded Smith from the 
council, and a declaration was entered on their mi- 
nutes, setting down at large their reasons for so 
doing. He was released from his confinement, but 
it was with some difficulty that he could obtain a 
trial in the colony, his accusers proposing that he 
should be sent to England for that purpose. After 
a fair hearing, however, he was honourably acquit- 
ted of the charges against him, and took his seat in 
the council. 

As a minute detail of the proceedings of these 



142 INTRODUCTION, &c. 

SECT, colonists, and the events which attended them, more 
^^^^,^^.1^^ properly appertains to a history of Virginia, of 
im. which there are several, we shall for the future con- 
fine ourselves only to those incidents thereof which 
have some immediate relation to that of Maryland* 



SECTION VII. 

I'he distresses of the first Virginia colony, and the services of cap- 
tain Smith — His first attempt to explore the bay of Chesapeake— 
His second attempt more successful — A general sketch of the 
tribes of Indians then inhabiting Virginia and Maryland—Smith 
becomes president of Virginia, and the tenor of some instructions 
from England to Virginia — An attempt of the Plymouth company 
to settle a colony in Maine — The second charter of Virginia, and 
the causes of granting it — The settlement of the Dutch at New 
York — English attempt to settle Newfoundland — The third charter 
of Virginia — Captain Argall's expedition to break up the French 
and Dutch settlements at Nova Scotia and New York. 

DURING the remaining part of the year 1607, sect. 
after the arrival and settlement of this first Virginia i^^v-Ly 
colony at James' town, it appears to have struggled leor. 
with much difficultv for existence. The provisions '^^^ ^^^'r. 

•' ^ *■ tresses oi 

which were left for their sustenance by Newport, the first 
who sailed with his ships for England, some time in colony, 
June this year, were not only scanty, but bad in servicers of 
their quality, having received damage in the holds g^^-^h" 
of their ships during the voyage. Hence the colo- 
lonists became subject to diseases, arising as well 
from the unhealthiness of the climate, as from a 
scai'city bordering on famine. This contributed 
much to a diminution of their numbers. They 
were harassed also with repeated attacks by the na- 
tives, who were far from being content with the visit 
of these strangers, when they found out that it 
would probably be permanent. Added to those 
difficulties, the conduct of their president Wing- 
field, and his successor Ratcliffe, was such as to 



144 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, excite considerable disturbance and dissatisfaction. 

VII. 

t,,^->r's,^ Disregarding the distresses of the colony, these 
I60r. presidents had not only consumed the stores of pro- 
visions, in the indulgence of their own luxury, but 
had planned schemes for deserting the country and 
escaping to England. Smith, ^ whose active and 
vigorous mind had been constantly employed dur- 
ing these distresses, both in protecting the colony 
from the hostile attacks of the savages, and in pro- 
curing from the natives corn and other provisions, 
was obviously the only member of the council in 
whom the colonists could, with any confidence, re- 
pose the administration of their affairs. Pursuing 
with ardour, his endeavours to procure supplies, as 
well as to explore the country, he was unfortunately 
captured by the Indians ; but after undergoing an 
interesting series of adventures, with them for seven 
weeks, his life was almost miraculously saved, 
tlirough the amiable interposition of the princess 
Pocahontas, a favourite daughter of the emperor 
Powhatan. Restored to the colony again, his influ- 
ence became doubly necessary. Wearied with their 
hardships and distresses, a great portion of the co- 
lony had determined to abandon the country. He 
an'ived just in time to prevent the execution of their 
design. By persuasion, he obtained a majority for 
continuing ; and by force, he compelled the mino- 
rity to submit. He now experienced also, some 
benefit from his captivity ; for it acquired him con- 
siderable repute among the Indians, and enabled 
him to preserve the colony in plenty of provisions 
until the arrival of two vessels, which had been dis- 
patched from England under the command of cap- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 145 

Win Newport, with a supply of provisions, of instru- sect. 
ments of husbandry, and with a reinforcement of ,^^^,^,^,1^^^ 
one hundred and twenty persons. i608. 

This seasonable accession of force and provi- His first 
sions, although it brought joy to the colonists, yet expu^re ^ 
had the inconvenience of inducing them again to a^I^^^^'^^ °^ 
relaxation of discipline, and to a neglect of the ad- peake. 
vice and direction of Smith, who zealously opposed 
their idle pursuit of ^vealth, in loading the ships des- 
tined to return in the spring, with an imaginary 
golden ore, instead of preparing for their future sub- 
sistence. Perceiving this, he bent his attention to 
more important pursuits. Well knowing that this 
fatal delusion would end in a scarcity of food, which 
Jiad indeed already begun to be felt, he proposed, 
as they had not hitherto extended their researches 
beyond the countries contiguous to James' river, to 
open an intercourse with the more remote tribes, 
>and to explore the shores of that vast reserv^oir of 
waters — the bay of Chesapeake. The execution 
of this arduous design, he undertook himself, ac- 
companied by doctor Russell, in an open boat of 
about three tons burthen, and with a crew of thir- 
teen men. On the second of June, he fell down 
the river in company with the boat of Newport's 
vessels, under the command of captain Nelson; 
and pcUting with her at the capes, began his sur- 
vey at Cape Charles* He examined, with im- 
mense fatigue and danger, every river, inlet, and 
bay, on both sides of the Chesapeake, as far as the 
mouth of the Rappahanock ; from whence he re- 
turned on the twenty-first of July to James' tewn - 

T 



l46 IKTRODUCTION TO A 

sEic;T. according to some, through tlie want of provisions,*" 
i.^->^^y^ but more probably, as mentioned by others,! from 
i60«. an accident which happened to him at the mouth of 
the Rappahanock. Having stuck with his sword, a 
fish called the Stingray, which lay in the sedge, the 
animal struck him in the wrist with the thorn which 
lay in its tail. The pain was for some time so vio- 
lent, and the appearance of the wound so swoln and 
livid, that his life was despaired of. From this 
place they immediately sailed to James' town ; and 
in memory of this event, a small island at the mouth- 
of that river has been called Stingray island.J 

On his return to James' town, he found the co- 
lony in the utmost confusion and disorder. Those 
who had arrived last with Newport, were all sick ; 
a general scarcity prevailed, and an universal dis- 
content with the president, Ratclifie, whom they 
charged witli riotously consuming the stores, and 
mmecessarily fatiguing the people with building a 
house of pleasure for himself in the woods. The 
seasonable arrival of Smith, prevented their fury 
from breaking out into acts of personal violence ; 
and they contented themselves with deposing their 
president. Whether Smith was immediately thereon 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 39. 

t Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 121. 

\ Rurk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1 , p. 1 2 1 . I find it so re- 
lated by Burk, who probably took it from Stith ; but it is to 
be observed, that no island is there laid down in bishop Ma- 
dison's new map of Virginia, but the south cape of Rappa- 
hanock is there denominated Stingray Point. As the island 
is mentioned to have been small, it may possibly have been 
since washed away, or not worthy of notice in a map. 



SUSTORY OF MARYLAND. I47. 

elected president in his stead, or whetlier that event sect. 
was postponed until his return from his second ex- ^ "' 
pedition up the Chesapeake, does not appear certain 160.8. 
from the historians of Virginia. It seems, however, 
that Mr. Matthew Scrivener, a man of respectabi- 
lity, who had been sent from England with Newport 
in his last voyage, and nominated one of the coun- 
cil in Virginia, was elected vice-president by the 
colonists ; which seems to imply that Smith was 
considered by them, as their president, but that 
Scrivener should be intrusted with the administra- 
tion of the affairs of the colony, during his absence. 

Smith accordingly prepared for pursuing his His se. 
scheme, of thoroughly exploring the Chesapeake ; l^'i^l^^' 
and it is on this expedition, we are to consider him ""^''^^''t^r 

^ cessiul, 

as the first European adventurer, who had ever pe- 
netrated into the interior parts of the country now 
constituting the state of Maryland. After remain- 
ing since his return, only three dayii at James' town, 
he set out again on the twenty-fourth of July, with 
twelve men; probably in the same open vessel, 
which he had used before. 

But before we follow Mr. Smith, in his route up . 

1 • , ^ general 

the Chesapeake, it may be well to pay some atten- sketch of 
tion to the accounts which writers upon this subject oHndia^n^s 
have given us of the situation of some of the prin- vh-ghS'^' 
cipal nations of Indians, tosrether ^vith a few of the f "^ Mary 

* . ' o land. 

subordinate tribes, who were found to inhabit on 
the borders of the Chesapeake, when the Europeans 
first intruded on them. The country which now 
forms the state of Virginia, including also a part of 
the state of Maryland, was occupied by upwards of 
forty different tribes of Indians. These tribes werc 



148 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, formed again into three great and distinct confede- 
^..^^._. racies or nations, denominated the Powhatans^ the 
1608. Manahoacs, and Monacam. Each of these three 
nations spoke a different language, and were under 
separate and distinct governments, insomuch that 
interpreters were necessary when they transacted 
business with each other. 

The Powhatans possessed all that part of the 
country bordering on the sea-board and the Chesa- 
peake, which extends from North Carolina to the 
mouth of the Patuxent, in Maryland. On the 
westward, their territories seem to have been bound- 
ed by a supposed line running with the highlands, 
and crossing the heads of the rrvers from North 
Carolina to the head of the Patuxent.* Some of 
the Powhatans are said also to have occupied what 
is now called the eastern shore of Virginia, under 
the denomination of the Accohanocs and Acco- 
macks, from whence probably Accomack county 
took its name. 

The Monacans inhabited that part of Virginia 
which lies on the highlands, to the westward of a 
line drawn through the falls of James' river, in ex- 
tent from York river to North Carplina.f 

The Manahoacs appear to have possessed that 

* See Mr. Charles Thompson's note (5) in the Appendix to 
Mr. Jefferson's Notes. Also Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, 
p. 112. 

t The Monacans afterwards assumed the name of Tusca- 
roras, and for some cause deserted their country in Virginia 
about the year 17 12, and joined the Iroquois, commonly called 
the Five JVations^ making the Sixth. Colden's Hist, of the 
Jive Nations, p. 5. Jefferson's Notes, query IJ. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 149 

part of Virginia, in the highlands, to the westward sect. 
of the Powhatans, lying between the York and Pa- v^r-v->^ 
towmack rivers. These two nations, (the Monacans 1603. 
and Manahoacs,) were in amity with each other, but 
waged joint and perpetual war against the Powha- 
tans. 

That part of Maryland which lies between the 
Patuxent and the Patapsco rivers from the bay to 
the Alleghaney mountains, seems to have been inha- 
bited by a nation called the Shawanees,* still ex- 
isting in the northwestern parts of the United 
States, t 

The Susqiiehanocks appear to have lived along 
the river Susquehanah, to the westward thereof, not 
only in Maryland, but to a considerable extent in 
Pennsylvania, probably occupying that part of Ma- 
ryland which forms Harford county ; and to the 
northward and eastward of them was a nation called 
originally Lenopi, by the French Loups, but since 
by the English Delawares, whose country is said to 
have extended from the Hittatinny mountains to 
Duck-creek, in the state of Delaware, including all 
the Jerseys and the southeastern part of Pennsyl- 
vania. It is not improbable, that it included also a 
part of Coecil county in Maryland. | 

* See Charles Thompson's not^ (5) to Jefferson's Notes. 

t They, together with several other Indian nations, sub- 
scribed a treaty with the United States, bearing date Novem- 
ber 25th, 1808. 

% See Thompson's note above-cited ; where it is mentioned 
that a tribe of the Loups or Delawares, called Chihohockiy oc- 
cupied t|ie remainder part of the Delaware state, along the 
west side of the Delaware river, which by them was formerly 
called Chihohocki, 



150 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT. The rest of the Eastern Shore of Mar}'land ap*- 
^-^.^ pears to have been possessed by two, nations ; one 
1608. called the Tockwocks., the other the Nanticokes ; the 
former occupying Kent, Queen Ann's, and Talbot 
counties : that is, from the Sassafras river to the 
Choptank, the latter Dorchester and Somerset coun- 
ties.* 

* See Evans's Map of the Middle British Colonies, pub- 
lished in 1755. Mr. Charles Thompson, hi note (7) in the 
Appendix to Jefferson's Notes, says, that " the Nanticokes 
were formerly of a nation that lived at the head of Chesapeake 
bay, and who of late years, have been adopted into the Mingo 
or Iroquois confederacy, and make a seventh nation ; the 
Monacans or Tuscaroras making the sixth," (as befiare-men- 
tioned.) But, whether the " Nanticokes" here meant by him, 
were the same nation as the Minticokes, above-mentioned, 
does not appear quite certain, though probable. The circum- 
stance mentioned by Mr. Thompson, that the " Nanticokes" 
lately joined the Iroquois, is true also of the Nanticokes of 
Dorchester and Somerset, in Maryland. In the year 1768, a 
remnant of the Nanticoke Indians, some of them residing on 
their lands situated on the north bank of the Nanticoke river, 
in Dorchester county, and others of them on a creek emptying 
into the head of the said river, called Broad creek, in Somer- 
set county, petitioned the assembly of Maryland, for leave to 
sell their said lands, or to receive some compensation for 
them ; for which purpose an act was passed in that year, the 
preamble of which states, " whereas the greatest part of the 
tribe of the Nanticoke Indians, have some years ago, left and 
deserted the lands in the province, appropriated by former 
acts of assembly for their use, and the few that remain here, 
by their petition, prayed that they might have liberty to dis- 
pose of their right to the said lands, or that some compensa- 
tion should be made them for quitting claim thereto, as they 
are desirous of totally leaving this province, and going to live 
with their brethren, who have incorfiorated themselves with the 
Six A'ationsf ijfe." The sale was accordingly effected through 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 151 

We arc now to accompany Mr. Smith in his sect. 
voyage up the Chesapeake. The first object of his y^^^^v-s- 
notice, as they naturally presented themselves, was icos. - 
that cluster of islands, now usually denominated the 
Tangier islands ; the largest of which, from their 
first discoverer, still retains the name of Smith's 
island. Leaving these islands, it appears, that he 
then explored the eastern shores of what is now 
called Poconoke bay, into which the river Poco- 
noke empties. Departing from thence, he passed 
a high point of land, which he called Point Ployer^ 
but which in all probability was the same point now 
well known under the denomination of Watkyns's 
Point, and referred to in the charter or grant of Ma- 

the agency of a certain Amos Ogden, a deputy acting undei" 
Sii' William Johnson, at that time his majesty's superintend- 
ant of Indian affairs for the northern department ; and the re- 
mainder of the Nanticokes removed from the province. Some 
notice may be here taken also, of some Indians, who were set- 
tled in Dorchester county, on the south bank of the Choptank 
river, and who, as far back as the year 1669, have been known 
under the denomination of the " Choptank Indians,'* as ap» 
pears by an act of assembly of that year, appropriating to them 
certain lands lying on the south bank of the Choptank river, 
and Secretary Sewall's creek. Whether they were a tribe of 
the Nanticoke nation^ distinct from those who had emigrated, 
or a remnant of the Tockwocko, who had left their residence 
on the opposite side of the Choptank, we have no sufficient au- 
thority to determine. It is certain, that they did not migrate 
with the Nanticokes in 1768, although they lived within 
twenty miles of each other. There are at this day, two or 
tliree individuals of them yet I'emaining, but intermixed, it is 
said, with Negro blood. They live on some spots of land ap= 
propiated to them by an act of assembly of the year 1798, out 
of their apprppriation in the year 1669-, 



152 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, rylaiad to the lord Baltimore, as the most southerfi 
y^,„r->/.^ part of that province bordering on the Chesapeake. 
3603. In doubling this point or cape, he fell in with some 
shoals formed by another cluster of islands, said by 
some to have been the same, as those since called 
JVatts^s islands, by others Holland'' s islands. To 
tjhese shoals, probably from their difficult and per- 
plexed navigation, he gave the name of Limbo. 
From thence he stood over again to the eastern 
shore, and discovered a river called by the natives 
Cuscaravi'^acock. On this river lived the nations of 
Sarapinak, Nause, . Arseck, and Nantlquack^ (of 
which, probably, the word Nanticoke is a corrup- 
tion), said by him to be the best traders of any In- 
dians in those parts. They told the English of a 
great nation, called Massawomccks, in search of 
whom, Smith returned by Limbo, into the bay. 
Leaving the shallows of the easteiTi shore, he ap- 
pears to have stood over to the western shore, but 
not to have fallen in with it until he came to a river, 
which he called Bolus river ; but which is said to 
be that which is now called the Patapsco.* Some- 
where in the upper part of the bay, he fell in with 
seven canoes full of Indians, who turned out to be 
the Massarvomecksj who were then making ^var 
upon the Susquehanocks and the Tockwocks. 
When they first met, the Massawomccks made a 
show of hostility, but suffering themselves to be 
persuaded of the friendly disposition of the English, 
after a mutual exchange of presents they departed.! 

• See Note (H) at the end of this volume. 
t This nation, called Massawomccks (or Wassawomecks) 
are said by Mr. Charles Thompson, in note (5) to Jefferson's 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 15,3 

The English are said to have next entered a tiver, sect. 
called the Tockwock, on which Hved a nation of v.^rv-v7 
the same name in a palisaded town, in order to guard 16.O8. 
themselves against the Massawomecks.* In com- 
pany with the Tockwocks, they found, it seems, a 
party of the Susquehanocks, who had probably 
come there to form a joint collection to oppose the 
Massawomecks. Implements of European manu- 

Notes, to have been the same nation 'as that subsequently- 
well known by the English, under the denomination of the 
Mve Nations^ called by the French Iroquois^ but by them- 
selves Mingoes. When Smith met them, they had descend- 
ed the Susquehannah, and were coming to attack the Susque- 
hanocks and the Tockwocks in the rear. Mr. Jefferson ob- 
serves also, (Notes, quere 11,) that these Massawomecks or 
Iroquois harassed unremittingly both the Manahoacs and Pow- 
Jiatans. Mr. Golden, in his history of them, p. 36, says, 
that they over-ran a great part of North America, carrying 
their arms as far south as Carolina, to the northward of New 
England, and as far west as the Mississippi. But these latttu' 
conquests by them were subsequent to the period we are now 
speaking of, and after they had been furnished with fire-arms. 
They were, however, exhibiting their martial prowess in a 
high degree against the Adirondacs or Algonquins, a nation 
on the north of the St. Lawrence, when the French first set- 
tled in Canada, in 1603, and would have extirpated them, if 
the French had not opposed them. Colderi's Hist. ch. 1. 

* As the Tockwocks are supposed to have occupied that 
part of Maryland, of which the counties of Kent, Queen 
Ann's, and Talbot are composed, and the English had, at 
this period of their expedition, arrived as high up the bay as 
the Patapsco, it may be conjectured, although it is certainly 
but an inference from circumstances, that this river, here 
called the Tockwock, was that now called the Chester river, 
and the palisaded town above-mentioned, was probably situa- 
ted on Eastern J\\ck island, or somewhere in that part of 
Kent county. 



154- INTRODUCTION TO A 

SKCT. factiife were observed to be in the possession of 
,J~J^ both these nations, which the Susquehanocks in- 
1608. formed them they had from the French in Canada.* 
An incident, which must be noticed, is said to 
haA-e occurred, either in this or the following excur- 
sion of Smith up the Chesapeake. Invited by the 
great breadth of the Patowmack, at its mouth, he 
sailed up this river, but to what distance is not men- 
tioned. Three or four thousand of the natives, it 

* Although the city of Quebec was not founded by Cham- 
plain until July, 1608, yet the French had, as early as the 
year 1600, established a trading settlement at Tadoussac, on 
the St. Lawrence, as has been before mentioned. With re- 
gard to what is represented in the accounts of the early ad- 
venturers, as coming from Smith, on this occasion, of the gi- 
gantic stature of the Susquehanocks, it is unworthy of notice. 
They were, without doubt, like most other North American 
Indians, tall and well limbed. What is said by Stith, of their 
language and dress may desei've to be here inserted: " Their 
language and attire were very suitable to their stature 
and appearance. For their language sounded deep and so- 
lemn, and hollow, like a voice in a vault. Their attire was 
the skins of bears and wolves, so cut that the man's head 
went through the neck, and the ears of the bear were fasten- 
ed on his shoulders, while the nose and teeth hung dangling 
down upon his breast. Behind was another bear's face split, 
with a paw hanging at the nose. And their sleeves coming 
down to their elbows, were the necks of bears, with their arms 
going through the mouth, and paws hanging to the nose. One 
of them had the head of a wolf hanging to a chain for a jewel, 
and his tobacco-pipe was three quarters of a yard long, carved 
with a bird, a deer, and other devices, at the great end. His 
arrows were thi'ee quarters long, headed with splinters of a 
white crystal-like stone, in the form of a heart, an inch 
broad, and an inch and a half long. These he carried at his 
back, in a wolf's skin, for a quiver, with his bow in onelkand, 
and lii'^j club in th:.* othei'." 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND 1^5 

seems, had planted themselves in ambush to cut sect. 
him off; but a few musquets bemg discharged, the v,^r-v->,^ 
Indians were so frightened by the report, that they i608. 
made peace, having confessed that they took up arms 
by the orders of Powhatan. In a small creek cal- 
led Quigough* formed by d>e waters of the Patow- 
mack, they saw a mine of antimony, which the In- 
dians made use of to ornament themselves, and the 
faces of their idols, f 

No further account of any other material inci 
dents of this voyage, has readied us. They return- 
ed to James' town on the sevendi of September, 
having their boat loaded with corn. From this ex- 
cursion Smith is said to have drawn a map of Che- 
sapeake Bay, and of the rivers thereof, annexing 
to it a description of the countries bordering there- 
on, and the nations or tribes inhabiting them, which 
he sent to the council in England, and which is said 
to have been done with admirable exactness, J as we 
have before had occasion to mention. His superior 
abilities having obtained the ascendancy over en^y 

* As there does not appear in the best and latest maps of 
the states of Maryland or Virginia, any creek or water of this 
name, emptying into the Patowmack, we are left to suppose, 
from the similitude of sound, as before-mentioned, that this 
creek was what is now called the Wicomoco river, falling into 
the Patowmack on the Maryland side of that river, and divi- 
ding the counties of St. Mary's and Charles. It is possible, 
indeed, that it may have been the same as that now caller? 
Yocomico river, lower down the Patowmack, and on the 
Virginian side thereof, or the river called Little Jngco?nko, 
at its mouth. 

t Bark's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 121. * 

I Ibid. p. 127,, 



liS6 INTUODUCTtON TO A 

SKCT. and faction, he now entered on his office of prcsi- 

All. - 

v^r-v'^^ dent. 

1608. About this time, Newport arrived with an addi- 
of'somr"'^ tional supply of inhabitants, and with fresh " in- 
instiuc- structions" from the London Company. The te- 

lions from p i • 

England nor of thcsc " mstructions" demonstrates, that those 
nia. ^ ^' who were engaged in the colonisation of America at 
this time, in England, were actuated more by the 
alluring prospects of a sudden acquisition of wealth, 
than the future benefits arising from colonies. The 
president and council of the colony were required 
to explore the western country, in order to procure 
certain intelligence of a passage to the South Sea ; 
to transmit, as a token of success in the discovery 
of mines, a lump of gold; and to find some of the 
lost company sent out by Raleigh to Roanoke. And 
they threatened in a letter to Smith, that unless the 
charge of Newport's voyage, amounting to about 
two thousand pounds, was defrayed by the ship's re- 
turn, they should be deserted, and left to remain 
there, as banished men. A reader of humanity could 
scarcely give credit to this fact, did he not find it re- 
corded by a credible historian.* Thus far, then, we 
have not yet found, that either religious persecution 
or political oppression, or even the glory of propa- 
gating the Clii-istian faith, however much talked of, 
were really and truly the prime and original motives 
to English colonisation. 

A feeble attempt made in this and the preceding 
year, b)^ the North Virginia or Plymouth company, 

* Burk's History of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 127, 148, and 
Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 162. 



HISTOKY OF MARYLAND. 157 

to plant a colony in that part of North America now sect. 
called the District of Maine, deserves some notice. v,.^->.r>^ 
In 1607, Sir John Popham, then lord chief justice i^us. 
of England, and others concerned in the Plymouth tempt'of 
Company, sent out two ships with a colony, under Jj^o^f//' 
the srovemment of Georee Popham, his brother, company 
attended with Raleigh Gilbert, nephew of Sir Wal- colony in 
ter Raleigh, second in command. They sailed from 
Plymouth on the last of May, 1607, and on the 
11th of August, landed on a small island, since 
called Parker's island, at the mouth of Sagadahoc 
or Kennebec river. Here they built a store-house - 
and fortified it, and gave it the name of fort St. 
George. On the fifth of December, the two ships 
sailed for England, leaving a little colony of forty- 
five persons. During the winter, which was said 
to have been very severe, the governour or com- 
mander-in-chief, George Popham, died. They had 
the misfortune of losing all their stores by fire: so 
that when the ships arrived the next year, 1608, 
: bringing with them the disagreeable intelligence of 
the death of Sir John Popham and Sir John Gilbert, 
in England, the great patrons of the colony, they 
were so dispirited, that they unanimously resolved 
to return with the ships to England, which they 
did. All the fruit of this expedition was the build- 
ing of a barn, which was found to be of use to the 
succeeding colonists, who planted there some years 
afterwards.* 

In the succeeding year, an important change took 

• Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, Vol. 1, p. 10. 
ilolmes's Annalsj Vol. Ij p. 160, 162. 



158 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, place in the London or South Virginia Company. 
^^^^i^^JI^^ Whatever their motives might have been, it seems 

1609. that the members of that company thought it pro- 
condchar- P^^ ^^ petition the king, for a new organization of 
ter of vir- their body. Some have attributed this to that su- 

ginia, and 

the causes preme direction of all the company's operations, 
ing^it!" which the king, by the former charter, had reserved 
to himself, and which discouraged persons of rank 
or property, from becoming members of a society 
so dependent on the arbitrary will of the crown.* 
Others have supposed, that the distractions and di- 
visions, which had prevailed in the council in the 
colony, having created much mismanagement in 
their affairs, the company in England, were on that 
account, induced to request an alteration in their 
charter, t While others again, have atti-ibuted tlie 
desire of a change therein, to tlieir inordinate thirst 
for a sudden accumulation of wealth ; J which con- 
jecture seems to be too much strengthened by the 
tenor of their last instructions, sent to the colony by 
Newport. The most probable motives, however, 
arose from a combination of the two last- mentioned 
causes ; and, as a late writer upon it observes — dis- 
appointed in their sanguine expectations of a rich 
and immediate profit, they were wilHng enough to 
believe the representations of the discontented and 
envious, rather than suppose that they themselve,s 

• Robertson's Hist, of America, Vol. 4, p. 192. 

t Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 225. 
Harris's Voyages, Vol. 2, p. 225. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, 
p. 243, 

\ Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 164. Marshall's Life of 
Washington, Vol. 1, p. 42. 



filSTORY OF MARYLAND. 1 59 

were mistaken in their calculations.* The king sect. 
yielded to their request, and granted, what is com- v^^->r-^^ 
monly called, the second charter of Virginia, bear- 1609. 
ing date the 23d of May, 7 Jac. 1, (A. D. 1609).t 
By this the administration of the affairs of the colo- 
ny was vested in a single person, under the deno- 
mination of a governour, who was to reside in the 
colony, and to act according to the orders, laws, 
and instructions of a council resident in England. 
The principal clause in this charter, which has any 
immediate relation to what is now the state of Ma- 
ryland, is that which designates the extent of terri- 
tory thereby granted. The king granted and con- 
firmed to the company, " all those lands, countries, 
and temtories, situate, lying, and being in that part 
of America, called Virginia, from the point of land 
called Cape or Poiiit Comfort, all along the sea- 
coast to the northward, two hundred miles, and 
from the said point of Cape Comfort, all along the 
sea-coast to the southward, two hundred miles, and 
all that space and circuit of land, lying from the 
sea-coast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land 
throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest ; 
and also all the islands lying within one hundred 
miles along the coast of both seas of the precinct 
aforesaid." There was certainly a great enlarge- 
ment of their territories beyond what was expressed 
in their first or former charter ; which seemed to 
have confined them to fifty miles, of English statute 
measure, northward and southward, along the coast 

• Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 148. 
t See this charter at large in Hazard's Collections, Vol. I. 
p. 58, 



160 INTRODUCTION tO A 

SECT, of America from the Jirst seat of their plantation 
,^_^^,..^,-^ and habitation, which was James' town, and only 
1609. one hundred miles back into the country from the 
sea-coast. But the country granted by this second 
chaiter, included nearly one-third of the present 
United States. The extent of it " from sea to sea," 
that is, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean would 
have been absurd, could it be supposed, that they 
were then acquainted with the real distance betM^een 
those seas across the continent of North America, 
in the latitude of Point Comfort. But it would 
seem, from the tenor of their last instructions to the 
president and council, sent out by Newport, before 
referred to, that they were at that time strongly pos- 
sessed with the idea, either that a passage to the 
south sea westward, through some inlet, would soon 
be discovered, or that the distance to that ocean 
across the continent was but very short, compared 
^vith what it has been since found out to be. Into 
this mistake they seem to have been led, not only 
by the previous discoveries of the Spaniards at the 
narrow isthmus of Darien, but also by some ac- 
counts given by the Indians to captain Smith, when 
he was exploring the Chesapeake, of gi'eat waters 
lying to the westward, not far distant; obviously 
meaning the lakes, and not the Pacific ocean.* 
Another observation on this charter occurs, in rela- 
tion to the subsequent grant by Charles I, to Lord 
Baltimore, which at first was so loudly complained 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 40. It is wor- 
thy of notice, however, tha* Powhatan told Smith, that all the 
accounts he had received, " of salt waters beyond the moun- 
tains," were false. Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 12^. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. t64 

of as unjustly lopping off so much of the territories sect. 
of Virginia. The absurd aspect of the extent of v.^^vx-#» 
territory granted by this second charter of Virginia, 1609. 
left this solitar}^ question only — how, and where its 
excrescencies should be pared off ? That it was too 
.large for any kingdom or commonwealth upon earth, 
admitted of no doubt. 

The last and concluding clause in this charter, 
seems also to claim some notice, as it manifests the 
temper of those times in relation to religious con- 
troversies, and indicates those causes which eventu- 
ated in about twenty years afterwards, in the settle- 
ment of a colony of English Catholics in Maryland. 
*' And lastly, because the principal effect which we 
can desire or expect of this action, is the conver- 
sion and reduction of the people in those parts unto 
the true worship of God and Christian religion,* in 
which respect we shall be loath that any person 
should be permitted to pass, tliat we suspected to 

* This cant pervades all the early charters of North Ame- 
rica, both French and English. As the emperor Powhatan 
was well known to entertain a most inveterate hatred to the 
Anglo-Virginians, on account of their invasion of his territo- 
ries, his sentiments on the above clause, could he have read 
it, would very probably, have been similar to those of the In- 
dian cazique of Cuba ; to whom, when fastened to the stal^e 
to be burnt, a Franciscan friar, labouring to convert him, pro- 
mised immediate admittance into the joys of heaven, if he 
would embrace the Christian faith. " Are there any Spani- 
ards,** says he, after some pause, " in that region of bliss which 
you describe ?" " Yes," replied the monk, " but only such 
as are worthy and good." " The best of them," returned the 
indignant cazique, " have neither worth nor goodness ; I will 
not go to a place where I may meet with one of that accurse4 
race!" 

X 



1&5^ 



INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, affect the superstitions of the church of Rome, we 
K^^^i'-.r^j c^o hereby declare, that it is our will aiid pleasure, 
1609. that none be permitted to pass in any voyage, from 
time to time, to be made into the said country, but 
such as first shall have taken the oath of supremacy : 
for which purpose, we do by these presents, give 
full power and authority to the treasurer for the time 
being, and any three of the council to tender and 
exhibit the said oath, to all such persons as shall at 
any time be sent and employed in the said voy- 
age."* 
jheset- The Dutch nation, notwithstanding their con- 
UiTduicIii stant war with Spain for many years, for their inde- 
York ^ pendence, which about this time was acknowledged 
by all, except their ancient masters, had now attain- 
ed to a considerable extent of trade in the East In- 
dies ; irisomuch that the States General, had, in 
1602, thought it proper to erect, what is styled by 
historians, the Dutch East India Company. The 
great length of the passage to the East Indies, by the 
Cape of Good Hope, being productive of many in- 
conveniences, the company became anxious, as in- 
deed all the rest of Europe had long been, to explore 
some more convenient route thereto. Witli tWs 
view, they employed captain Henry Hudson, an En- 
glishman, to find out what was supposed, and called 
a northwest passage. Being furnished by the com- 
pany with a vessel, equipped with all necessaries, 
and with twenty men, English and Dutch, he sailed 
from the Texel in the beginning of the year 1609, 

• This clause will be animadverted upon more at large in a 
subsequent part of this work. 



HtSTORY OF MARYLANP, 165 

awd pursuing a westward course, fell in with the s'-xt. 
coast of Newfoundland. He is said to have shaped v^^^sj 
his course from thence to Cape Cod ; looked into I609 
the Chesapeake, where the English were settled ; 
anchored off the Delaware, and penetrated up the 
river on which New- York is situated, called after 
him, Hudson's river, as far north as the latitude of 
43°. The consequence of this voyage, is said to 
have been, that thaDutch, having purchased of him 
his chart of discoveries on the coast, sent some 
ships next year to the place, then called Manhattan 
island, on which the city of New York now stands, 
and in process of time, settled a colony there and at 
Albany, higher up the river ; calling the province 
New Netherlands, which, agreeably to their claims., 
extended so far south as to comprehend what is now 
called the Delaware state, Pennsylvania, and the 
Jerseys.* 

Although Sir Humphrey Gilbert, as befcre-men- jsiq, 
tioned, had taken formal possession, in her majesty's Engiisii 
name, of the island of Newfoundland, yet hitherto settle 
no settlements hiid been made thereon ; which pro- foundhn^^ 
bably may be attributed to the coldness of the cli- 
mate and the barrenness of the soil. However, Mr. 
John Guy, a mercliant, and afterwards mayor of 
Bristol, who, in the year 1609, WTOte a treatise to 
encourage persons to undertake a settlement there, 
by his writing and solicitation, succeeded so well, 
that in the following year king James made a grant, 
dated April the 27th, 1610, to Henry Howard, Earl 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 10, p. 293. Smith's Hist, of New- 
York, p. U. Proud's Hist, of Pennsylvania, Vol, I, p. 109^ 
Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1. p. 167, 



J.64 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SFX T. of Northampton , lord keeper, Sir LaAvrence Tan- 
v..^-,^,,^ field, lord chief baron, Sir John Dodderidge, knig's 
1610. sergeant, Sir Francis Bacon, then solicitor-gene- 
ral, afterwards lord chancellor, and created Lord 
Verulam, together with the above-mentioned Mr. 
John Guy, divers other merchants of Bristol, and 
otlicr persons therein mentioned, by the name of the 
Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Plan- 
ters of the cities of London and Bristol, for the co- 
lony or plantation in Newfoundland ; from north la- 
titude forty-six to fifty-two degrees, together with 
the seas and islands lying within ten leagues of the 
coast. The proprietors soon after, in the same year^ 
sent the before-mentioned Mr. Guy, as conductor 
and governour of a colony of thirty-nine persons, 
who accompanied him to Newfoundland, and be- 
gan a settlement at Conception bay.* It appears, 
that this attempt to form a settlement there, did not 
succeed ; and we ai'e told, that Mr. Guy returned 
to England again, after residing there for two years, 
with little advantage. A part of his colony, if not 
tl e whole of them, i-etumed with him.f 

As the shipwreck of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir 
George Somers, on the Bermuda islands, in their 
voyage to Virginia, in the year 1609, had made the 
colonists acquainted with the produce, pleasantness, 
and beauty of those islands, whose accounts thereof 
reached the company in England, they were induced 
to apply to the king, to obtain an enlargement of 

* Holmt's's Annals, Vol. l,p. 172. 

t Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 3. 
ISlod. Univ. Hist. Vol 39, p. 249. Also, see n'ote (I), at the 
end ol this volume. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 165 

thetf territories, so as to include these islands. Con- sect. 
siderable deficiencies, as to their necessary powers ^^^• 
in conducting the affairs of the Virginia colony un- leio. 
der their then existing charter, appearing to them to 
require remedy, afforded additional inducement to 
them to apply for supplemental authority, whereby 
they might be enabled to remedy existing abuses, 
not only in the government of the colony, but in 
procuring the means of defraying the charges and 
expenses of supporting it. They accordingly ob- 
tained from the king a new patent, called by some 
writers the third charter of Virginia, bearing date 
March 12th, 9 Jac. 1, (1611-12.) By this the king jgij. 
gave, granted, and confirmed " to the treasurer and The thipd 
company of adventurers and planters of the city of Virginia. 
London, for the first colony in Virginia, and to their 
heirs and successors forever, all and singular those 
islands whatsoever, situate and being in any part of 
the ocean, seas bordering upon the coast of our said 
first colony of Virginia, and being within 300 
leagues of any of the parts heretofore granted to the 
said treasurer and company, in our said former let- 
ters patent as aforesaid, and being within or between 
the one*and-fortieth and thirtieth degrees of northerly 
latitude." They were authorized also, to hold four 
great and general courts, at the four usual feasts in 
the year ; and therein to elect and choose members 
of the council in England, for the said colony, and 
to nominate and appoint officers, and to make laws 
aiid ordinances for the good and welfare of the said 
plantation. Besides other incidental powers, appa- 
rently necessary, they authorized the company to 
establish lotteries, in order to raise money for their 



166 INTRODUCTION TO A 

sfiCT. necessary expenditures.* It appears, however, froih 
s,^f,-s<^^^ the whole purview of this instrument, that it was 
161^. intended, not as an abrogation, but as a deed ofcoji- 
firmation of their former charter. Their territories, 
therefore, were not abridged by it in their enormous 
extent, but on the sea -board were considerably en- 
larged. In order to derive their promised utility 
from the Bermudas, it was not thought necessary, 
it seems, for them to retain those islands, as a part 
of their territories, for they irhmediately sold them 
to another company, who thereupon sent out a co- 
lony to settle them. 

The French and Dutch, now making some pro- 
gress in their settlements on the North American 
continent ; the former in Acadie, now called Nova 
Scotia, and in that part of the United States called 
the District of Maine ; the latter in the state of New 
York : Sir Thomas Dale, the governour of Virgi- 
nia, in virtue of the claim of the English to the 
whole northern part of America, by reason of Ca- 
bot's prior discovery of it, sent an armed expedition 
J5J3 in the year 1613, under captain Samuel Argal!, to 
Captain break up and destroy those settlements. He did so 

Argall's ^ _^ 

expedi- as to thosc of the French ; but, as he left no g^am- 

break SOU to keep posscssion of the places where they had 

Fmldi settled, they soon afterwards resumed their former 
and Dutch stations. On his return to Virginia, he visited the 

roents in Dutch settlement on the Hudson ; and, on his de- 

via and maudiug the possession thereof, tlie Dutch govcrT 

Yoi^. nour, Hendrick Christizens, incapable of resistance, 

* See the charter at large, in Hazard's Colkctionsj Vol. 1, 
p. ^2. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 16 J 

peaceably submitted himself and his colony to the sect. 
king of England, and, under him, to the governour v^^>,->^ 
of Virginia, consenting to pay a tribute. But in the 1614. 
next year, a new governour from Amsterdam arri- 
ving, with a reinforcement, asserted the right of 
Holland to the country ; refused the tribute and ac- 
knowledgment stipulated with the English by his 
predecessor, and put himself into a posture of de- 
fence. He built a fort on the south end of the island 
Manhattan, where the city of New York now stands, 
and held the country many years, under a grant from 
the States General, by the name of the New Nether- 
lands.^ 

» Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 163, 179. Marshall's Life 
of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 57. 



SPJCTION Tin. 

Kfensons for the fuUowin^ digression — Rise of the reformation— Its 
progress through the continent of Europe — Its introduction into 
England — The origin of the Puritans — Divisions among the Puri- 
tans — State of reHgious parties in England.on James I's accession — 
The Independents emigrate to Holland — Their distressing situation 
there — Tiiey fftrm the design of removing to America — Negociate 
with the Virginia Company for that purpose — Dissensions in the 
Virginia Company occasion delay — They embark for America, and 
settle at Plymouth, in Massachusetts. 

IT is a common remark throughout the sect. 
United States of America, that most of these states ^"^' 
were originally colonised by means of religious per- Reasons 
secution, which the first settlers of them experienced fo^f^^^^S" 
in their mother country; and the provinces of New&'"^3®'°o 
England, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, are general- 
ly cited as instances tliereof. But when we recur 
to the records of history, at the period of time when 
the colonies of New England and Maryland were 
first settled,* and find that the mother country was 
then a scene of the most tumultuous contest between 
three principal sects of the Christian religion, the 
established Church of England, the Roman Catho- 
lics, and the Puritans,)- a contest, not indeed for 

• The colony of Virginia, the only English colony prior 
to those last above-mentioned, unquestionably origioated from 
the Spanish views of gold and silver mines, as well as from 
a desire to find out a short passage to the East Indies, and 
not from religious motives. 

t The appellation of " Puritans," included, during Eliza- 
beth's reign, the Fresbytereans, as well as the BrotmistSy th© 
latter of whom were afterwards called Indefitndentp . 

Y 



170 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, the supreme power merely, but each for its own ex- 
^^^,tr>r^^^ istence; and find also, that at the close of the scene 
T the established Church gave many instances of her 

moderation, not exhibited by either of the others 
when in power, we are compelled, if not entirely to 
excuse, at least to make much allowance for her 
conduct in the causes of those first emigrations. 
The reign of queen Mary abundantly demonstrated 
that the English Roman Catholics would tolerate 
neither the Church of England nor tlie Puritans. 
And the conduct of the Puritans, in their turn, at 
the helm of power, will equally convince us, that 
neither Church nor Catholics were to expect tolera- 
tion from them.* Nay indeed, these Puritans, 
when at the height of their pov/er, and the sceptre 
of England was wielded by the hypocritical Crom- 
well, had their agents of persecution, even in the 
infant colony of Maryland. Among the " Acts and 
orders of a general assembly, holden at Patuxent 
(Maryland) the 20th of October, 1654, by com- 
mission from his highness the lord protector," Stc 
is an act, entitled, " An Act concerning religion," 
whereby, " it was enacted and declai'ed, That none, 
who professed and exercised the Popish (commonly 
called the Roman Catholic) religion, could be pro- 
tectedin this province, by the laws of England, for- 
merly established, and jet unrepealed : nor by the 
government of the commonwealth of England, &c. 

* By an ordinance of the 23d of August, 1645, imprison- 
ment for a year, on the third offence, and pecuniary penal- 
ties on the former two, were inflicted, in case of using the 
Book of Common Prayer, not only in a place of public wor- 
ship, but also m any private family. See 4 /"/. Cow. 53. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 171 

but to be restrained from the exercise thereof, 5cc. skct. 

VIII. 

That such as profess fliith in God by Jesus Christ, ^.^^-v-s^ 
though differing in judgment from the doctrine wor- 
ship, or discipline publicly held forth,* should not 
be restrained from, but protected in, the profession 
of the foith and exercise of their religion; so as they 
abused not this liberty, to the injury of others, dis- 
turbance of the peace, &c. Provided such liberty 
was not extended to Popery or Prelacy^ nor to such, 
as, under the profession of Christ, held forth and 
practised Ucentiousnessy\ The reader will easily 
see through the flimsy veil of this insidious proviso. 
As " Prelacy is synonymous to Episcopacy^ and 
the Cliurch of England could not exist without the 
government of its Ms/iopSy it is very fairly to be sup- 
posed, that it was meant thereby to exclude that 
Church also, as well as the Catholics, from the ex- 
ercise of their religion in this province. But be that as 
it may, the crime of " licentiousness" was certainly 
so indefinite as to leave ample occasion for unlimited 
persecution ; and a slight perusal of the early part of 
the History of Massachusetts, will furnish numerous 
instances of the wild judicial constructions put by 
these fanatics on similar legislative expressions. 

Thus then, as the causes of the colonisation of 
New England and Maryland, which are nearly co- 
eval, appear not to be clearly understood, in the 
United States, or if so, not generally acknowledged, 

• This meant, without doubt, the doctrine and discipline 
of the Indcfiendents, forming at that time in England, under 
Oliver, what might be called, the established religion or 
Church. 

t See Bacon's edition of the Laws of Maryland, 1654, ch.4. 



tlOTl 



172 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, it is here hoped, that it will afford some apology for 
.^^''^^^y^ leading the reader, in a very cursory manner, through 
the scenes of religious transactions in England, at- 
tending the progress of the reformation, and the 
consequent struggle, between the three great reli- 
gious sects before -mentioned, for that earthly poli- 
tical crown, which was to bring the others as hum- 
ble vassals at the victor's feet, 
isir. When Pope Leo X, in the beginning of the six- 
reforma-'^ecnth ccutury, by his profuse liberality in the pa- 
tronage and encouragement of the arts and sciences, 
ill the collection and publication of valuable and 
scarce books, and also in the completion of that su- 
perb edifice at Rome, St. Peter's church, but more 
especially by his inordinate ambition to aggrandize 
his family, the house of Medici, of Florence, had 
exhausted the revenues of the church, he was con- 
strained to adopt such devices as suggested them- 
selves to him, to replenish the coffers of the holy 
see. As the Christian religion, in its then organi- 
zed state, acknowledged, and in the consent of a 
large majority of that religion*^ still acknowledges, 
the papal power, of granting a pardon and remis- 
sion of all sins, Leo was naturally induced, through 
his philosophic and unbelieving mind, to yield to 
tlie superstition of his flock. He, therefore, in the 
year 1517, published all over Europe general inchil. 
gences in favour of such as would contribute sums 
of money for the building of St. Peter's church, 

• " Three-fourths of Europe consist at this moment ( 1 805)- 
of Christians professing the Roman Catholic religion," Mr. 
Fox's speech in the house of commons, on the Catholic peti- 
tion, May 13th, 1805- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. l/S 

and at the same time appointed two persons in each se^t. 
country to recommend those indulgences by preach- >,^rv-^ 
ing, and to receive the money for them. As reli- i5i7 
gious indulgences are founded on the infinite trea- 
sure of the merits of Jesus, die holy virgin, and all 
the saints, vt^hich it is supposed Christ's vicar upon 
earth has a right of distributing, by virtue of the 
communion of saints, it must be allowed, that Leo 
fell upon a most apt, though not a novel mode, of 
recruiting the treasures of the apostolic chamber, of 
Rome. But an unfortunate incident in the mode of 
collecting this revenue, brought such a storm upoa 
the church, as to shake the proud fabric to its basis. 
The person appointed by the pope for this purpose, 
in the northern part of Germany, particularly in 
Saxony, was Albert, archbishop of Magdeburg 
and Mentz. That prelate, either by his own autho- 
rity, or by order of the pope, bestowed the com- ^ 
mission for distributing these indulgences on the 
order of Dominican friars, instead of that of the Au- 
gustine friars, as had been usual, and, as it seems, 
in consonance to the convention which had been 
made among the four orders of mendicants. This 
preference sorely vexed the Augustine friars, who 
considered the neglect as a contempt upon their or- 
der; perhaps also, at the same time regretting to see 
themselves frustrated of the share they might have 
had of the money. These indulgences certainly 
appear to the eye of reason, however long they may 
have been sanctioned by Christian usage and prac 
tice, as totally repugnant to those moral principles, 
adopted by the common consent of all mankind, in 



174 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, all ages, as the best ligaments of human society.* 
y^-,^.^^. In this point of view the Augustines did not omit 
I5ir. to place them; and the Dominicans, by their indis- 
creet conduct in relation to them, gave their ene- 
mies ample room to exercise their envious and ma- 
lignant passions. Offices were everywhere set up, 
even in taverns, where the collectors consumed in 
riot and debauchery a gi-eat part of the profits pro- 
duced from this traffic of the sacred treasures of the 
church. lohn Stulpitz, or Staupitz, vicar general 
of the Augustines in Germany, being supported by 
the elector of Saxony, who had a particular regard 
for him, was the first who openly attacked the ser- 
mons of the Dominicans, and the abuses wliich 
ivere committed in the distribution of the indulgen- 
ces. The better to promote his opposition, he se- 
lected for his colleague and assistant Martin Luther, 
a preacher of the same order of Augustine friars, 
and a doctor of Wittenberg, whose name has since 
been so well known in the world. As he was a 
man of an ardent, zealous, and enterprising temper, 
and possessed considerable talents for both writing 
and eloquence, and remained safe also from the 
thunder of the Vatican, under the protection of tlie 
elector of Saxony, his doctrines soon gained num- 
bers of proselytes throughout all Germany, and in- 
deed set all Europe in a blaze of zeal for reforming 
the abuses of the Church. In addition to this, it 
may be observed, that the minds of the people of 
Europe had been already, in some measure, prepared 
for the occasion, by that diffusion of ancient Utera- 

*• See note (K) at the end of the vohime. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 175 

ture, particularly the Platonic philosophy, which sect. 
resulted from the invention of printing. The com- s.^-^>^ 
bustible materials had been collected. It only re- i^ir. 
quired the intrepidity of such a man as Luther to 
apply the spark. — From such sources originated that 
great event so well known in history under the name 
of the reformation.*. 

Minor reformers soon sprung up in numbers, its pro- 
sketching out different schemes of reformation, in through 
such different shades of opinion as best suited their 5,'^^^*"^?'" 
fancy. In Switzerland, Zuinglius decLired himself i^^rope- 
an advocate for the doctrine of Luther, and imita- 
ting his conduct, declaimed warmly against the 
person who was appointed to publish the indulgen- 
ces in that country. Subsequently, however, dif- 
fering in opinion from Luther, on the doctrine of 
the Eucharist, he became the founder of the sect in 
Switzerland called Sacramentists.'\ The Anabap- 
tists also, in Germany, grew out of Luther's here- i^^- 
sy ; though he took pains to disown them, and to 
have them repressed. They boasted of immediate 
revelations to themselves, and taught that men 
ought to regulate their conduct by the visionary pre- 
cepts which such supposed inspiration might dic- 
tate. They destroyed all the books that happened 
in their way, but the Bible. They despised not 
only ecclesiastical but civil laws ; and held that all 
government was nothing but usurpation. They 
were for having all things in common, and for every 

• Du Pin's Hist, of the Church, Cent, xvi, ch. 6. Mtx) 
Univ. Hist. Vol. 29, p. 500. 

t Du Pin's Hist, of the Church, Cent, xvi, th. 7, 11, 



176 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, man's being free and independent, and promised 



VIII 



themselves a happy empire, in which they would 
1521. reign alone, after having extirpated all the wicked. 
Encouraged by this doctrine, the peasants and boors 
throughout Germany rose up in arms, and threaten- 
ed destruction to every government. In private 
life they were not less wild and dangerous. One of 
their leaders in Switzerland, in the presence of his 
1527. father and mother, cut oft' his brother's head with a 
sword, assigning to them as a reason for it, that he 
was commanded by God to do so. Two of their 
principal leaders, natives of Holland, John Matthias, 
who had been a baker at Haerlem, and John Boccold, 
or Beukels, a journeyman-taylor of Leyden, aided 
by their followers, took forcible possession of the city 
of Munster, in Westphalia. Matthias, assuming 
the power of a prophet, governed the city, until he 
was killed in a sally by the bishop of Munster's 
troops, who besieged it. He was succeeded by 
Boccold, who, in imitation of king David, danced 
naked through the streets, and caused himself tor 
be crowned king of Sion. He ordered his minor 
prophets to preach to the people, that it was one of 
the privileges granted by God to the saints, to have 
a plurality of wives. To set the example, he him- 
self married three. As he was allured by beauty or 
the love of variety, he gradually added to the num- 
ber of his wives, until they amounted to fourteen ; 
nor was any private man allowed to remain with one 
onl}\ As it was instant death to disobey this tyrant 
in anything, one of his wives having uttered certain 
words that implied some doubt concerning his 
^, divine mission, he immediately called the whok 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 177 

number of them together, and commanding the bias- sect. 
phemer, as he called her, to kneel down, he cut off^^^,,-,^^^^^ 
her head with his own hands; and so far were the 1^34 
rest from expressing any horror at this cruel deed, 
that they joined him in dancing, with a frantic joy, 
around the bleeding body of their companion.* It 
is but justice, however, to the modern Anabaptists 
to add, that these extravagant and fanatic notions 
"have been long since relinquished by them. I 

Next in order came the grand reformer of the re- 1536, 
formed, John Calvin. He seems to have been more 
remarkable for his talents as a contro^'^ersial writer, 
than as a preacher. As the heresies of the before- 
mentioned reformers did not find a ready access into 
France, of which Calvin was a native, he was forced 
into a kind of voluntary exile to other countries, to 
propagate such doctrines as he might think conveni- 
ent to propose. The glory of being the founder and 
head of a religious sect, is scarcely less intoxicating 
than that of being at the head of an empire. With 
a mind filled, without doubt, with this sort of ambi- 
tion, he wandered to Geneva. As this city formed 
in itself a little independent republic, being but a 
i'tw years before emancipated from the t}Tanny of the 
dukes of Savoy, and as the heresies of Luther and 
Zuinglius, by the preaching of William Fai-el, a 
French Protestant refugee, and other reformers, 
had gained so much ground in this city, that the 
Gbspel/erSj as they were there called, had driven the 

* Robertson's Hist, of Charles V, book 5th, Du Pin's Histv 
of the Church, Cent, xvi, ch. 8 and 10, Bayle's Hist. Diet, 
art. Anabaptists. 

t See note (L) at the end of this volume 
2 



1,78 INTRODUCTION TO A * 

SKCT. Catholic bishop out of the city, and seized both the 
VIII . . . 

^^^,,...^^,^^ ecclesiastical and temporal power into their own 

1536. hands, it became the great asylum for all the French 
refugees, who were discontented with the establish- 
ed religion of their own country. Here John Cal- 
vin was persuaded by his friend Farel to fix his 
abode. Calvin was to write, and Farel was to 
preach, and thus they were jointly to defend their 
possession of the temporal as well as ecclesiastical 
- powers of the little state. They soon found cause 
of disagreement with their friends and allies the Ber- 
nese, who were Lutherans. They abominated the 
practices of these Bernese Lutherans, in making use 
of unleavened bread in their sacrament, and of wo- 
men being married with their hair dishevelled. The 
inhabitants of Geneva still retained also their fond- 
ness for other holydays besides Sundays; and their 
reformation in manners did not keep pace exactly 
with tlieir reformation in doctrines. To punish 
these propensities to sin, Calvin and his coadjutor 
refused to administer the sacrament to them. The 
citizens enraged rose in a body, and drove them 
both out of the city. Calvin, however, soon con- 
trived to raise a powerful faction in his favour, and 

1541. in a year or two, (1541,) he was solicited to return. 
He returned, indeed, with redoubled influence and 
power. The first thing he did was to establish a 
form of discipline and a consistorial jurisdiction, 
with power to exercise canonical censures and pun- 
ishments, even to excommunication. He shut up 
all taverns, prohibited all prophane dancing and 
singing, and put a stop to all sports. 

In vain, did the inore rational part of the citizens 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 179 

complain, that this was re-establishing the tyranny sect. 
of the church of Rome. Calvin had the syndics on ^^.^-v-O 
his side ; and the contumacious were threatened i54i. 
with excommunication, if they did not submit. A 
member of the council, however, had the courage 
to impeach his doctrine as being unsound ; but the 
magistrates, without further inquiry, committed him 
to prison, and condemned him to do penance for 
his accusation, by walking through the city witli a 
torch in his hand ; probably intimating thereby, that 
he deserved to be burnt as a heretic. One Bolsec, I5;5t 
a physician, who had denied Calvin*s doctrine of 
predestination, and said that he made God the au- 
thor of sin, was first imprisoned, and then banished 
the city, under the penalty of being whipped if he 
ever returned there again. But the most impious l55o. 
abuse of the secular power, in matters of religion, 
happened in the case of the famous Michael Reves, 
commonly called Servetus, a Spaniard, and one of 
^the most learned physicians of that age. He had 
been imprisoned for his opinions, at Vienna ; but 
making his escape from thence, he took refuge at 
Geneva. It was natural for him to hope for an asy- 
lum, amongst a people who had founded their liber- 
ties upon their right of thinking for themselves oa 
religious subjects, and disclaiming authority in 
pouits of conscience : he was fatally deceived. On 
his arrival at Geneva, he was thrown into prison, 
and accused by Calvin of some heterodox opinions 
'ivith regard to the Trinity, and other articles of 
faith. He was at the same time robbed by the ma^ 
gistrates of a gold chain, and a considerable sum of 
money, which never were returned to him ; so that 



180 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SKCT. he was in great danger of perishing during his im- 
^^^r-.^r-^,^ prisonment, for want of the common necessaries of 

1553. life. Being called upon to make his defence, he 
did it with so much freedom and learning, that Cal- 
vin could oppose him with nothing but the secular 
power, which condemned him to be burnt alive. 
Servetus suffered this sentence without retracting 
his opinion, to the indelii)le infamy of all those who 
were concerned in it. As an explanatory- supple- 
ment to the sentence against Servetus, may be ad- 
ded that which was given in, about two years after- 

1555. wards, against Philibert Berteilier, who was a native 
of Geneva, and register there of one of the inferior 
courts of justice. He was first excommunicated 
by Calvin's consistory, and then a criminal sentence 
against him by the syndics and council, was pub- 
licly given and pronounced, accompanied with 
sound of trumpet : " That the said Philibert, for 
the horrid and detestable crimes of conspiracy against 
the holy institution and Christian reformationy and 
against this city, and the public good and tranquil- 
lity thereof, be condemned to be bound and brought 
to the place of execution, there to have his head cut 
off, his body to be quartered, and his members to be 
set up in the foiu* most eminent places round about 
this city, for an example to others, who shall com- 
mit such crimes. ^^ But having secretly fled out of 
the city, he was so fortunate as to escape the terri- 
ble punishment that awaited him. As Calvin, un- 
questionably, had the civil as well as the ecclesiasti- 
cal power of Geneva under his direction, to him, 
principally, may be attributed these dreadful perse- 
cutions. A little whik before the death of this 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND.' 1«1 

arch persecutor, two citizens were put to death for sect. 
adultery : nor did these bloody deeds cease with his v._^^,->^ 
breath ; his successors in his consistory, appear to 1555. 
have carefully copied his intolerant practices. A 
poor miserable maniac, in the succeeding century, 
professing himself a Jew, and perhaps, as his reli- 
gion dictates, speaking contemptuously of Christ, 
was strangled and burnt. In short, the rack and 
the faggot became familiar modes of punishment, as 
well for heresy as for treason, with the citizens and 
syndics of this petty republic* 

Amidst all this religious uproar throughout the 1531. 
continent of Europe, it was not to be expected that ^^^ "?^''"" 
England would remain quiet ; especially as there i"to Eng- 

• 1 1 • 1 -111 • i'^nd. 

Still subsisted m that kmgdom considerable remains 
of theWickliffites, commonly called Lollards, whose 
principles resembled those of Luther. But Henry 
VIII, among the most arbitrary tyrants that ever 
sat upon a throne, was at first more unusually stre- 
nuous against the reformation than any other mon- 
arch in Europe. He not only used his power to 
suppress its entrance into England, but turned au. 
thor, and wrote a book against Luther and his doc- 
trines, for which he received from Pope Leo the 
glorious title of Defender of the Faith. But what 
the fantastic zeal of the Lollards and the Lutherans 
could not effect, was soon produced by the youth, 
beauty, and charms of the accomplished Anne Bo- 
leyn. Finding that her virtue and modesty, pre- 

• See Robertson's Hist, of Charles V. b. 11. Mod. Univ. 
Hist. Vol. 37, p. 292, 300. Boyle's Hist, and Crit. Diet, artic. 
Calvin, Bolsec, Bertellier. And note (M,) at the end of this 
volume. 



182 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, vented all hopes of gratifying his passion fof her in 



VIII 



any other manner than by marriage, Henry formed 
1531. the resolution of being divorced from his then wife, 
Catherine of Arragon. Some scruples, which had 
been before that time, suggested about the propri- 
ety of marrying a brother's wife, as Catherine had 
been, afforded some plausible grounds for him to 
go upon. But as Pope Clement, who had succeed-^ 
ed Leo, was entirely under the awe and influence of 
the emperor Charles V, who opposed the divorce, 
on account of the honour and interests of queen 
Catherine, who was his aunt, Henry found more 
diflSculty tnan he expected, in obtaining the formal 
consent of the holy pontiff to annul his marriage. 
His passions, always violent, not admitting of such 
delay, rather than wait such slow proceedings in un- 
tying the knot, he chose to cut it, by throwing off 
at once, all subjugation to the papal power. He 
caused his own clergy to try the validity of the 
marriage, and to annul it as unlawful, while at the 
"--i same time, if not prior to it, he married Anne Bo- 
/ leyn. Mean-while, the Lutheran doctrines had, as 
it were, stole into his dominions, and had gradually 
disposed his parliament and his subjects, so far to 
join in the reformation as to renounce all submis- 
sion to the power and authority of the see of Rome* 
With this disposition of the nation, Henry in some 
measure coincided, and connived at the introduc- 
tion of the reformation into England. But, as the 
reformers on the continent had exhibited many 
symptoms of a republican spirit, especially in the 
furious insurrections of the Anabaptists in Germany, 
there v/as little probability, that so absolute a king 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 183 

^ould ever give favour or countenance to any doc- sect. 



VIII. 



trine, which lay under the imputation of encourag- 
ing sedition. Besides, this political jealousy having i53i. 
gained much honour, as he thouglit, in his polemi- 
cal writings against Luther, and elated with the 
most lofty opinion of his own erudition, he received 
with impatience, mixed with contempt, any contra- 
diction to his own religious sentiments. He seem- 
ed, therefore, to play together tlie two factions of 
Protestants and Catholics so as to suit his own pur- 
poses. The consequence was, that during his reign, 
few innovations on the doctrines of the ancient Ca- 
tholic religion were allowed by him, except the re- 
nunciation of all papal authority in England, the 
dissolution of the monasteries and nunneries, and 
some little alteration in the mass-book.* 

On the death of Henry, his crown descended to 1547. 
his son Edward VI, who was then a minor of about 
nine years old. As he was incapable at that age of 
exercising the powers of royalty, his father had en- 
deavoured to provide for that incapacity by appoint- 
ing persons to administer the affairs of the govern, 
ment until his arrival at age. But the relations of 
Edward, by his mother's side, particularly Edward 
Seymour, duke of Somerset, his uncle, contrived 
to set that appointment aside, and to have the ward- 
ship of young Edward, as well as the administra- 
tion of the government vested solely in him as lord 
protector. The duke was a zealous reformer, and 
consequently was careful that no other religious 
principles should be instilled into his nephew's mind, 

* Hwme's Hist, of England, chap. 29, 30, 31, 32 



184 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, than those which he himself approved. The young 
s,^^^.^^^^^ king, therefore, as he grew up, manifested much 
I54r. zeal for the reformation. As the majority of men 
in most countries are apt to adopt those religious 
opinions to which preferment and profit are annexed, 
those early inclinations of young Edward had a pow- 
erful effect in converting the bulk of the nation to 
the modern heresies, especially among the courtiers, 
who with every probability, had not fairly calculated 
upon a total abolition of the ancient religion. The 
protector, therefore, aided by the zeal of young 
Edward, who, it is said, exhibited an uncommon 
understanding for so young a man, found but little 
difficulty in eifectijig his design of establishing a 
hierarchy in England, which should partake, in a 
moderate degree, of the doctrines of the reformers 
in the rest of Europe. In these schemes he usually 
had recourse to the counsels of Cranmer, archbishop 
of Canterbury, who being a man of moderation and 
prudence, was averse to all violent changes, and 
advocated the mode of bringing over the people by 
insensible innovations, to that system of doctrines 
and discipline which he deemed the most pure and 
perfect. It is a feature of the reformation easily 
traced throughout its history, that whenever it pre- 
vailed over the opposition of the civil authorit}', 
it raged, like a torrent, disregarding any bounds. 
Such reformers, to show their detestation of the 
numerous and burthensome superstitions with which 
the Romish church was loaded, proscribed all rites, 
ceremonies, pomp, order, and exterior observances, 
as impediments to their spiritual coiitemplations, 
and obstructions to their immediate converse with 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 185 

Iheaven. But where it was introduced by the rulers sect. 
of the government, as in England, the ti'ansition y^J!^ 
was more gradual; much of the ancient religion 1547. 
was still preserved ; and a reasonable degree of sub- 
ordination was retained in discipline, as well as some 
pomp, order, and ceremony in public worship. 
With this spirit, the English reformers proceeded ; 
and by the aid of acts of parliament, during the 
short reign of Edward, completely established that 
hierarchy, denominated the Church of England, 
nearly in the same doctrines and form of worship in 
which it exists at this day. 

But, unfortunately for the English reformers, the 1553. 
life of Edward was but of short duration : he died 
in the year 1553, in the sixteenth year of his age. 
The crown descended to his sister Mary, who, not- 
withstanding all the earnest importunities of her 
brother, as well as of the reformed bishops, had 
still persisted in adhering to the ancient rehgion. 
Being educated by her mother Catherine of Arra- 
gon, she had imbibed the strongest attachment to 
the catholic communion, and the highest aversion 
to the new tenets. Naturally of a sour and obstinate 
temper, she was well fitted in mind to become a 
bigot; and her extreme ignorance rendered her ut- 
terly incapable of doubt in her oa\ n beHef, or of in- 
dulgence to the opinion of others. It was not long, 
therefore, before she discovered her intentions of not 
only abolishing the newly established religion, but 
of persecuting its professors. The good old chris- 
tian principle of " compelling men to come in, that 
2 A 



iSii" IKTllODUCTION TO A 



\ 



SKCT. the house may be filled,"* not a little recommended 

VIII- 

^r->^r^^^ by Luther in Germany,! and ardently adopted and 
1553. enforced by Calvin in Geneva, was now as zealously 
revived in England by Mary. She disliked the tedi- 
ous mode of punishing heretics by prescribing to 
diem oaths and declarations of belief, and depriving 
them in that manner of all political as well as reli- 
gious liberty, as modern protestants do in another 
quarter of the world, than either Europe, Asia, or 
Africa. She took the shorter method of roasting 
them alive ; by which means the faithful got rid of 
them at once. The beneficial effects of this mode 
of Christian compulsion were soon perceived, in 
a general return of the English nation to the good 
old way of thinking in religious matters; except 
indeed a few, who made their escape into Germa- 
ny, Switzerland, and Geneva, and whom we shall 
presently see returning again from their foreign. tra- 
vels, much improved in their religious opinions, 
according to their own estimation.^ 
1558. The triumph of the Catholics, and the suiFerings 
of the reformers in England, were not however des- 

* See the parable of the great supper, Luke xiv, 23. 

t Luther allowed of persecution, as far as banishment; but 
Calvin thought it lawful to put heretics to death. Tindal's 
Cont. of Rapin's Hist. Vol. 15, p. 274. See also an account 
of Luther's persecution of his friend Carlostadt; Roscoe's 
Pontificate of Leo X, ch. 19. 

\ Leave was given to the celebrated Peter Martyr, and 
other reformers, who were foreigners, to quit the kingdom. 
Under this leave, many English, to the amount of a thou- 
sand, it is said, under pretence of being foreigners, withdrew 
from England. Rapin's Hist, of England, (Tindal's edit) 
Vol. 7, p. 117, and Vol. 15, p. 276. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 18.7 

tined to be long. The cruel reign of Mar}'^ was sect. 
short, and as she died without issue, her crown de- ^.^^-^^ 
scended to her sister Elizabeth, whose mother be- i-^^s 
ing of the reformed religion, she herself adopted it 
with ardent zeal, as Mary had that of the Catholic. 
In this singular series of events the English nation 
had to turn round again, and to try, if the heretical 
coat, which Mary had lately obliged them to put off, 
Avould still fit them, and once more become fashion- 
able among them. Elizabeth found little difficulty 
in making this reconversion of the nation. Although 
the Catholics had in the preceding reign, by the 
bigotry of Mary, obtained the reins of power com- 
pletely into their own hands, and had apparently re- 
duced the nation back to tlie communion of the Ca- 
tholic church, yet it seems to be clearly establish- 
ed by the concurrent events of the times, that a 
majority of the people were attached to the reformed 
religion. The queen proceeded cautiously and 
gradually in the alteration, and, like her predeces- 
sor, availed herself of the authority of a parliament 
chosen to her own mind for that purpose. By their 
^sanction the obnoxious statutes of the former reigo 
were repealed, and such re-enacted as were necessa- 
ry to pLice the reformed Church of England nearly, 
if not precisely, in tlie same situation as her brother 
Edward had left it, and as we now see it. Prior to 
the session of parliament, however, and soon after 
her accession to the throne, she had deemed it re- 
quisite to discover such symptoms of her intentions, 
as might give encouragement to the protestaiits, so 
much depressed by the late violent persecutions. 
She therefore recalled all the exiles who had fled out 



^88 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SRCT. of the kindom, as before-mentioned, and ordered all 
s^^^^^ persons confined in prison on account of religion to 
1558. be immediately discharged. As it is natural for 
Se^piri!^ those, who have been persecuted for their zeal in 
tans. ^y^y particular object, to feel a more inveterate ani- 
mosity to the usages and practices of those from 
whom they receive the persecution than they would 
otherwise have done, had their zeal been left to it- 
self to spend its first fury, so the most zealous re- 
formers in England, after Mary's reign, became 
more anxious to push the reformation to a much 
greater excess than it had been carried to in the 
reign of Edward. The English exiles also, especially 
those who had resided at Geneva, came back to Eng- 
land, full fraught with all the splenetic inveteracy of 
John Calvin, against the superstitions of the church 
of Rome. Added to tWs also, the reformation had 
commenced in Scotland, shortly after the accession 
of Elizabeth, under the patronage of John Knox,;- 
who had just then arrived from Geneva, where he 
had passed some }ears in banishment, and where 
he had imbibed from his commerce with Calvin the 
highest fanaticism of the Caivinistic sect, augment- 
ed by the native ferocity of his own character. The 
contagion of that spirit, which dictated the outrages 
committed by Knox and his followers, in that 
neighbouring kingdom, could not be prevented from 
spreading itself also into England. The English 
exiles, thus impressed with Caivinistic principles, 
were not a little disappointed, on their return, in 
finding, that the reformed Church of England, as 
settled by Elizabeth, still retained so much of what 
they denominated the abominable idolatry of the 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 189 

Catholics. Beina: resrarded with c:eneral \'eneratioii sk€t. 
on account of their zeal and past sufferings, they ^.^.-v^^ 
were emboldened to insist, that the reformation i568. 
should be established on that model which they 
deemed most pure and perfect. The restraints of 
the priest, the sign of the cross in baptism, the use 
of the ring in marriage, with several other rites 
which long usage had accustomed the people to 
view with reverence, were deemed by the moderate 
English reformers, inoffensive observances, which 
they were willing to retain ; but the fanatics rejected 
them with horror, as " badges of idolatry and the 
dregs of the Romish beast." Elizabeth herself, 
however, so far from being willing to strip the 
•church of the few ornaments and ceremonies which 
remained in it, and which at least served, in a very 
innocent manner, to amuse, allure, and engage the 
attention of the vulgar, was rather inclined to bring ^ 
the public worship still nearer to the Romish ritual. 
The consequence was, that a schism took place 
among the reformers in England ; and the zealots, 
who were for carrying the reformation to the great- 
est extent, were, on account of their pretending to 
a superior purity of worship and discipline, deno- 
minated Puritans.^' 

These Puritans, however, were far from being i5S0, 
united amonsr themselves, as to a uniformity of^"^^"""",^ 

*-> '' among the 

principles. The more sober and learned among Puntans. 
them, inclined to that form of ecclesiastical policy, 

^ Hume's Hist. ch. 40, who cites Camden, as fixing upon 
the year 1568, for the period when the Puritans began to 
make themselves considerable in England^ 



igO INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, which is known by the name of Presbyterian : but^ 
yjj_^ such as were more thoroughly possessed with the 
1580. spirit of innovation, reprobated the authority which 
the Presbyterian system vests in various judicato- 
ries, descending from one to another in regular sub- 
ordination, as inconsistent with Christian liberty. 
Of this latter sort of Puritans, one Robert Brown, a 
popular declaimer in high estimation, modelled a 
distinct sect, which, from him took the name of 
Broxvnists.^ He taught, that the Church of Eng- 
land was corrupt and anti-christian, its ministers not 
lawfully ordained, its ordinances and sacraments in- 
valid, and therefore he prohibited his people to hold 
communion with it in any religious function. He 
maintained, that a society of Christians, uniting to- 
gether to worship God, constituted a church, pos- 
sessed of complete jurisdiction in the conduct oj[ its 
own affairs, iiidependejit of any other society, and 
unaccountable to any superior ; that the priesthood 
was neither a distinct order in the church, nor con- 
ferred an indelible character ; but that every man 
qualified to teach, might be set apart for that office 
by the election of the brethren, and by imposition 
of their hands ; in like manner, by their authority, 
he might be discharged from that function, and re- 
duced to the rank of a private christian ; that every 
person, when admitted a member of the church, 
ought to make a public confession of his faith, and 
to give evidence of his being in a state of favour 

* He was a man, it seems, of a good education, being 
brought up at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Tindal's 
Com. of Rapin's Hist. Vol. 15, p. 278. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 191 

with God ; and that all the affairs of a church were sect. 

VIII. 

to be regulated by the decision of the majority of ^_^^,.,,,,^^ 
its members.* As the tenets of this new sect wore i592. 
a threatening aspect, not only to the established re- 
ligion, but to the government itself, it began to be 
deemed necessar}', that some more effectual checks 
than they had hitherto experienced, should be given 
to their progress. Some peculiar acts of sedition, 
blended with an extraordinary religious fanaticism, 
occurring about this time in the city of London, 
seem to have accelerated the interposition of the 
legislature. To this cause, among others, is attribu- 
ted the statute of the 35 Eliz. ch. 1, made towards 
the latter end of her reign y\ by which it was enact- 159$ 
ed, " If any person, refusing to repair to the esta- 
blished church," (as was required by preceding sta- 
tutes, viz. 1 Eliz. ch. 2, 23 Eliz. ch. 1, 29 Eliz. 
ch. 6,) " shall, by printing or writing, advisedly or 
purposely, practice, or go about to move or per- 
suade any one to deny, withstand, and impugn her 
majesty's power and authority, in cases ecclesiasti- 
cal, united and annexed to the imperial crown of 
this realm ; or to that end or purpose, shall advi- 
sedly and maliciously, move or persuade any other 
person whatsoever, to forbear or abstain from com- 
ing to church, according to her majesty's laws and 
statutes aforesaid ; or to come to, or to be present at 
any unlawful assemblies, conventicles, or meetings, 
under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion ; 
or if any person, so refusing to repair to some estab- 

* Robertson's Hist, of America, b, x. 

t See note (N,) at the end of thia voltimi?. 



192 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, lished Church, as aforesaid, shall, either of hhnself or 
VIII- . .... 

s,^^>^'^^^ by the persuasion of any other, willingly join, or be 

1593. present at any such conventicles, under pretence of 
religion, aforesaid ; every such person, so offending, 
and being thereof lawfully con\'icted, shall be im- 
prisoned, ^^ ithout bail or mainprise, until they shall 
conform, and make such open submission and de- 
claration of their said conformity, as hereafter in 
. this act is declared and appointed." " Every such 
person, so not conforming himself, shall abjure and 
depart the realm ; and in case of refusing to abjure, 
or of not departing after abjuration, or of returning 
without license, he shall be guilty of felony, without 
benefit of clergy." 

This blow, as was intended, affected both the 
Puritans and the Catholics ; but was, ^vithout doubt, 
more particularly pointed at the former. As Eli- 
zabeth, on her accession to the throne, was indebt- 
ed to the English reformers for her support against 
the formidable opposition which she experienced 
from the Catholics, her principal attention had been 
hitherto directed to guard against the dangers of 
Popery. But the variety of seditious acts, which 
were now exhibited by those fanatics, who were for 
pushing the reformation to its utmost extent, gave 
her just cause to apprehend, that her sovereignty 
was in equal danger from Puritanism. The num- 
ber also of these Puritans, had now increased so 
much, as in itself to be a sufficient cause of alarm 
to those who professed the established church. If 
we are to credit an assertion, said to have been 
made by Sir Walter Raleigh, in the house of com- 
mons, in the year 1592, (but one year prior to the 



ITISTORY OF MARYLAND. 193 

'makins: this statute of 35 Eliz.) the Brownists, as sect. 

Vill. 

they were then called, amounted to no less than v.„„-v^^^ 
twenty thousand, divided into several congregations i^^-^- 
in Norfolk, Essex, and about London. *^ As it was 
evident also, that nothing would content them, but 
a total abolition of the established religion, called 
the Church of England, not even indeed an unli- 
mited indulgence in the exercise of their own, it 
was not to be wondered, that Elizabeth and her 
clergy should consider themseh'es as contending 
for their existence, and that these enemies of their 
power should feel the full force of their resentment. 
The persecution, if it may be so called, which these 
sectaries experienced, during the few remaining 
years of Elizabeth's reign, seems, therefore, to have 
been the nccessaiy result of such a state of things. 

On the accession of James to the throne of Eng- 1603 
land, both the Papists and the Puritans had con- state or 

^ ^ religious 

ceived high hopes of some happy change, each in parties in 
their own favour. The Papists could not believe, on tiie ac- 
(hat a prince, who had never expressed any hatred jan^esV 
to them, should suddenly alter his mind, and choose 
to tread in the steps of Elizabeth. The Puritans 
imagined, that James, having been educated in their 
religion, that is, the Presbyterian, cind professed it 
all his life, till his arrival in England, would be pro- 
pitious to them. I'hey expected, that he would at 
least abate the rigour of the laws against them, if 
not reform many of the faults they had found in the 
Church of England. Both were deceived, but the 
ftist much more than the first. Of the Catholics, 

* See Tindal's Cont. of Rapin's Hist. Vol. 15, p. 2?8_ 
3 n 



194; INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT. James disliked only the Jesuits, and such as ^verc 
x_^_,,^y-y^ too servilely attached to the court of Rome and the 
1603. prerogative of the pope. But to the Puritans in ge- 
neral, he conceived a most violent hatred, especially 
as he thought that he discerned in them a strong 
inclination towards republicanism. As they were 
usually veiy familiar with their Maker, in their 
prayers to him, he was naturally induced to sup- 
pose, that they would take still greater liberties with 
him as their earthly sovereign. They both, how- 
ever, presented their petitions to him. To the Ca- 
tholics he answered, that he thought himself obliged 
to support what he found established in the king- 
dom. To the Puritans, he granted a pretended op- 
portunity of justifying their principles before him^ 
by appointing a conference to be held in his pre- 
sence, of which he himself was to be moderator, 
between some of their principal ministers and eld- 
ers* and seme bishops and divines of the establish- 
ed church. The victory, as was to have been 
expected, being adjudged by him to the latter, the 
consequence was, that he ordered, by proclamation, 
the laws against non-conformists to be put in strict 
execution. 

The court of " high commission for ecclesiastical 
affairs," a most odious tribunal, began now also to 
act against the Puritans with more severity and less 
control from the courts of common law, than they 
^ad done in the former reign. It was about this 

« 

* These ministers and elders, appear to have been of the 
Presbyterian class of Puritans, and not Brovvnists- Rapin's 
Hist, of England, (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 1, p. 18. 



HISTORY OF MAIlYtAND. IQ3 

time, that archbishop Bancroft exhibited his cele- sect. 

VIII 

brated Articuli Cleri^^ in whicli he enumerates v,^^^^,-,^^ 
many grievances of the clergy, arising from the leos, 
power exercised by the courts of common law in 
granting wiits of prohibition to the proceedings of 
the ecclesiastical courts, and writs of habeas corpus 
for persons imprisoned by them ; among which 
courts, that of the " high commission" was the 
most prominent. This tribunal had been originally 
instituted in the reign of Henry VIII, as a substi- 
tute for the former power of the pope, and had been 
revived under the statute of 1 Eliz. ch. 1, which 
defined heresy^ and authorized the queen to appoint 
commissioners, to sit as judges thereof in this 
highest ecclesiastical court. But, throughout the 
wliole of her reign its authority is said to have been 
exercised with great moderation ;t which appears 
to have been principally owing to the control of the 
courts of law4 K.i»g James, however, being evi- 
dently prejudiced against the common law,^ and 

* See them at large in toke's 2 Inst. p. 601 , 

t Rapin's Hist, of England, (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 78. 

% Lord Coke affirms, (4 Inst. 332,) that although there 
might have been many instances, in the reign of queen Eli- 
zabeth, wherein the. high commission court exercised the 
power of fine and imprisonment, especially against the weaker 
soi't, yet, as often as complaint had been made, the highest 
courts of common law always relieved them according to law 
and justice. 

§ It is said, that he had dropped expressions of his inten- 
tion to establish the ci-vil law in the room of the cormnon law. 
Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 77^ 79. It is no small 
eulogium on the common law, that the advocates for arbitrary 



196 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SRCT. having a high opinion of his own talents as a theo- 
^^^^ logian, abetted and supported the bishops in the 
1605. extent of their claims to an uncontrolled jurisdiction 
over all matters of heresy and religion.* The Pu- 
ritans, therefore, now became liable to be harassed 
not only with fines and imprisonment, by the com- 
mon law courts, for non-conformity, but to have 
their religious tenets examined by this high com- 
mission court, according to the test of heresy pre- 
scribed by the statute. f The rigorous penalties of 

power, whether it is to be exercised by a mob or a king, have 
an invincible antipathy to this system of jurisprudence. The 
great securities for personal liberty and private property, 
which it upholds, are sad stumbling blocks in their way. 

* For further information with respect to this curious con- 
test, which took place about this time, between the spiritual 
and temporal courts in England, see the several notes of cases 
on that subject in Lord Coke*s 12th Rep. Also his 2 Inst. 
601, and 4 Inst. :330. However censurable Coke's conduct 
was, in many instances, while he was attorney-general, parti- 
cularly on the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh,,yet the noble stand 
which he made, when he became chief justice, against not 
only the arbitrary power assumed by the "high commission" 
and other ecclesiastical courts, but even against the lawless 
exertion of prerogative by the king himself, does him infinite 
honour. This independent conduct, however, in a few years, 
eventuated in the loss of his place of chief justice. 

t The statute oY 1 Eiiz. ch. 1, defines heresy to be, " only 
such matter or cause as heretofore have been determined to 
be heresie, by the authority of the canonical scrifitures, or by 
^ny general council wherein the same was declared heresie 
by the express and plain words of the said canonical scrifi- 
tures." As the almost innumerable variety of sects of the 
Christian religion uncjuestionably arises from their various 
modes of construing these " canonical scriptures," we are un- 
avoidably led to join Mr. Justice Blackstone in his remark on 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. t9T 

abjuration of the realm, or death as a felon, in cer- skct. 

Yin 
tain cases, under the before-mentioned statute of v^^^^^,..,^ 

35 Eliz. also hung over their heads. But it will i605. 
surprise the reader at this day, after reading these 
severe denunciations against the Puritans, unjustifi- 
able indeed, upon any other principle than self-pre- 
servation, and after a minute search through the 
pages of the best historians of those times, when he 
finds considerable difficulty in discovering one soli- 
tary instance, where a Puritan was either burnt as a 
heretic or hung as a felon , merely for his religion. The 
instances of Udal and Penry, mentioned by Hume,* 
were cases of seditions libels^ punishable with death 
under an abominable statute of 23 Eliz. Thev were 
instances of the arbitrary exertion of prerogative in 
the execution of a most tyrannical law against a po- 
litical crime. The two Flemish Anabaptists, burnt 
as heretics, in her reign, had no connexion with 
those species of Puritans denominated Brownists, 
who are the subjects of our present inquiry ; espe- 
cially, as these Brownists, or their successors in 
New England, subsequently considered Anabaptists 
in the same point of view : and the two Arians, who 
suffered at the stake for heresy, in the reign of 
James, were alike unconnected with the Brownists. 
Denying the divinity of Christ, or at least his con- 
substantiation with the Father, it is not probable, that 

this definition — " that it would not have been the worse, to 
have defined it in terms still more precise and particular ; as 
a man continued still liable to be burnt, for what perhaps he 
did not understand to be hei'esy, t!iH the judge so informed 
him." 

* See his Appendix to queen Elizabeth's rei§;n. 



198 - INTRODUCTION *rO A 

SKCT. such orthodox Christians as the Brownists would 
yjl^^^ have treated them with greater leniency, had it been 
1605. in their power. In corroboration of this, the re- 
marks of Hume, upon the same subject, may with 
propriety, be quoted: " Had the king," says he,* 
*' been disposed to grant-the Puritans a full toleration 
for a sepai-ate exercise of their religion, it is certain, 
from the spirit of the times, that this sect itself 
would have despised and hated him for it, and would 
have reproached him with lukewarmness and indif- 
ference in the cause of religion. They maintained 
that they themselves were the only pure church; 
that their principles and practices ought to be esta- 
' blished by law; and that no others ought to be tole- 
rated. It may be questioned, therefore, whether 
the administration, at this time, could with proprie- 
ty deser\'e the appellation of persecutors, with re- 
gard to the Puritans." 

Suffering, as they certainly did, during the reigns 
both of Elizabeth and James, by lines and impri- 
sonment, for their non-attendance at the established 
Church, and now liable to be treated as heretics, by 
the high commission court, or compelled to abjure 
the realm, under the penalties of the statute before- 
mentioned, the only alternative left for them seemed 
to be conformity or a volunl^jy exile. From the 
small proportion which the number of those who 
subsequently emigrated to Holland, bore to the 
whole of their society, at that time in the kingdom, 
we may infer that an exterior conformity was adopt- 
ed by a very large majority of them. Perhaps, con- 

* See his Appendix te the reign of James I. 



HISTORY OF MARYLANI}. . IQl? 



dilatory methods, blended with compulsion, might seci 
also have been practised towards them ; for we find ^^.r-^^ 
that some of them were not proof against either ico5, 
temptation or persecution. Their founder and 
leader, Brown, either frightened by the terrors of 
the law, or allured by the comforts of a good living, 
which, it seems, he afterwards accepted, surrender- 
ed the glory of heading a religious party, for a snug 
benefice in the established Church. Others, how- 
ever, stuck to their tenets with a more consistent 
obstinacy. From their own account of themselves, 
as handed down to us by the successors of their • 
sect in America, they must have existed in consi- 
derable numbers, about this time, in the north of 
England, particularly in Nottinghamshire, Lanca- 
shire, and Yorkshire. They had there, it seems, 
formed themselves into two distinct bodies or 
churches. Over one of them Mr. John Smith pre- 
sided as pastor; over the other Mr. John Robinson.- 

* In the Extracts from the Plymouth Kecords, published 
iTi Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 350, are the following pas- 
sages on this subject: " These people became two distinct 
bodyes, or churches, in regard of distance ot place, and did 
congregate severally, for they were of several townes and vil- 
lages ; some in Nottinghamsheire, some in Lankisheire, and 
some in Yorksheire, where they bordered nearest together. 
In the one of these churches, besides others of note, was 
Mr. John Smith, a man of able giftes, and a good preacher, 
whoe afterwards was chosen their pastour; but these after- 
wards falling into some errors in the Low Countreyes, there^ 
for the most part, buryed themselves and their names. 

" But in this other church, which must be the subject of 
eur discourse, besides other worthy men, was Mr. Richard 
Clifton, a grave and reverend preacher, whoe by his paines 
anS diligence, had done much good, and under God had bin 



20O INTRODUC TIOX TO A 

SECT. Prefemng: a voluntary banishment from their native 

VIll. , 

iWN'^^w/ country to a conformity to the discipline of the 
1607. established Church, Robinson and a few of his fol- 
lowers stole away by degrees, (for it seems they 
were not permitted openly to leave the kingdom,*) 

Tiie inde-to Amsterdam, as the states of Holland, after their 

pendents rr -i n i i • 

emitrrate independence, anected to allow a general toleration 
land" " to aU sects of religion. They had not lived at x\m- 
sterdam more than a year, before ambition, through 
which even angels are said to have fallen, set these 
" holy brethren and exiled saints" by the ears-i* 
After Robinson and his flock had been there some 
time, they were followed, it seems, by another 
company from England, under the guidance of the 
before-mentioned John Smith. As these congre- 
gations were not only distinct, but independent 

a meanes of the conversion of many ; and alsoe that famous 
and worthy man, Mr. John Robinson, whoe afterwards was 
theire pastourfor many years, until the Lord tooke him away 
by death ; and alsoe Mr. William Brewster, a reverend man, 
afterwards was chosen an elder of the church, and lived with 
them untill old age and death." 

Their dispersed situation, herein described, together with 
their danger in convening in large bodies, most probably first 
suggested that form of hierarchy which they afterwards 
adopted, to wit, that each cofigregalion should be a distinct, 
independent church of itself. 

* This prohibition appears to have been, to emigration ia 
large companies, which was frequently attempted. See Ex- 
tracts from the Plymouth Records, in Hazard's Collections,. 
Vol. l,p. 351, and Rapin's Hist, of England, (Tindal's ed.) 
Vol. 8, p. 72. 

t See the highly-wrought characters of " Tribulation, the 
pastor, and Ananias, the deacon, in Ben Jonson's Alchymist,. 
written about this time. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. £01 

of each other, tlieir pastors also claimed equal and sv.r.r. 
distinct supremacy over their several and respective v^-^,^^,^ 
flocks. No subordination in their ecclesiastical go- 1607. 
vernment being acknowledged, these pastors, like 
little monarchs of two little neighbouring kingdoms, 
jealous of each others power, soon found cause of 
quarrel. Whatever this cause was, it eventuated, 
it seems, cither through the superior prowess of 
Smith, or the more humble meekness of Robinson, 
in the removal of the latter and his followers to 
Ley den.* 

During the residence of these people, both at I609. 
Amsterdam and Ley den, it appears that they must J^^g^ '^ 
have undergone considerable hardships. This, in- sit"auon 
deed, was naturally to have been expected. They 
were, most of them, poor country people, out of 
the north of England, raw and simple in their man- 
ners, and uninformed in their minds : fit subjects, 
indeed, for religious imposture. Many of them, 
perhaps, had been inured in their own country to 
the acquirement of their daily bread by personal la- 
bour, but they were now transplanted into another 
nation populous in the extreme, and with whom, 
consequently, the means of livelihood, even by la- 
bour, were more difficult to be attained. Added to 
this, they were unacquainted with tlie language, and 
ignorant of the manners and customs of the people^ 
wath M'hom they now dwelt. There is nothing extra- 
ordinary then, that the leaders of this little band of 
enthusiasts soon had cause to complain, " that many 

• Extracts last-cited, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 354, 
and Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts, Appendix, Ne. I, 
at the end of Vol. 2, 

3 r. 



202 INTRODUCTIOlf TO A 

SECT, of their children were draA\Ti away aiTd departed 
si^'sr^^^ from their parents ; some became soldiers, others 
1609. took upon them for voyages by sea, and others 
worse courses, to the great grief of their parents and 
dishonour of God."* " They had just apprehen- 
sions, therefore, that their little community would 
soon become absorbed and lost in a foreign nation."! 
The celebrity which commonly attaches to the name 
of a founder of a religious sect, was in great danger 
of being forever covered in obscurity. If, perchance, 
some historian of the country in which they dwelt, 
should deign to mention their fortunes or their suf- 
ferings, it would be only with the sentiment of pity 
and compassion, the most galling circumstance to 
Tlieyform an ambitious mind. The glory, or if it is insisted 
o/remo^" upou, " the natural and pious desire of perpetuating 
America. ^ church which they believed to be constituted 
after the simple and pure model of the primitive 
church of Christ, and a commendable zeal to pro- 
pagate tlie gospel in the regions of the new world," 
induced them to think of a removal to America. J 
But to what part of that grand continent, whether 
to the southern or northern region of it, was not at 
first determined by them. Sir Walter Raleigh had 
raised the fame of Guiana, about this time, and k 
is probable, that they had heard of the successful 
progress of the English in colonising Virginia. 
The former was represented as. "rich, fruitfull, and 

* Extracts from the Plymouth Records, in Hazard's Col- 
lections, Vol. 1, p. 357-8. 

t Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 197. 

I Hid. an^i see note (O) at the end of this volume r 



HISTORY OF iMARYLAND. 2pii 

blessed with perpetual spring; where vigorous Na- sect. 
ture brought forth all things in abundance and plen- ^.^vv-/ 
ty, without any great labour or act of man;" but to 1609. 
this was opposed the -tmhealthiness of the country, 
and the propinquity of the Spaniards. Virginia 
was next thought of; and to this it was objected, 
" that if they lived amongst the English there 
planted, or so near them as to be under their go- 
vernment, they should be in as great danger to be 
troubled and persecuted for their cause of religion, 
as if they lived in England, and it might be worse; 
and if they lived too far off, they should have nei- 
ther succour nor defence from them. At length, 
the conclusion was, to live in a distinct body by 
themselves, under the general government of Vir- 
ginia."* 

Having formed this resolution, they delegated ^^^'^' 

\ r 1 • •' -n 1 Negociate 

(m the year 1617) two of their society, Robert with the 
Cushman and John Carver, to go England, in or- company^ 
der to negociate with the Virginia Company for^"^^^^^ 
their sanction in this proposed s,ettlement, as also 
to ascertain whether thc' king would grant them 
liberty of conscience in that distant country. These 
agents found the Virginia Company very desirous 
of the projected settlement in their American terri- 
tory, and willing to grant them a patent with as am- 
ple privileges as they had power to convey. They 
found also friends to intercede with the king foj; 



• Extracts from the Plymouth Records, in Hazard's Col» 
lections, Vol, 1, p. 360. " The general government of Vir, 
ginia," here meant, was that which took place under the, sfc- 
oqnd and third charters of Virginia before-nientioned. 



210* INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, them, particularly Sir Robert Naunton, who was 

VIII. 

^_,^-.v.^^^ then one of the secretaries of state.* When Sir 
1617. Robert urged to the king, that it was bad policy to 
unpeople his own kingdoms |br the benefit of his 
neighbours, and that he could have no objection to 
grant them religious liberty in America, where they 
would still continue to be his subjects, and where 
they might extend his dominions, his majesty's an- 
swer is said to have been, that it was " a good and 
honest proposal ;" but he positively refused to allow 
or tolerate them by his public authority under his 
seal, though he promised, that he would connive at 
them, and not molest them.f Their friends in 
England, notwithstanding this refusal, advised them 
to pursue their scheme of settlement, and gave it as 
their opinion that they would not be troubled. 
S618. With this answer, the agents returned to Holland 
in the year following ; but the king's refusal damped 
the ardour of their religious brethren, for a removal 
for some time. Debating upon the subject among 

* He was appointed to this office on the death of secretary 
Winwood, in October, 16 1 7, together with Sir George Cal- 
vert, who afterwards projected the colonisation of Maryland. 
See Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 135. The ap- 
pointment of these two gentlemen, of opposite characters, at 
the same time, may be reckoned ambng the singularities of 
king James. Sir George was an acknowledged Papist, and 
Sir Robert a Protestant, much inclined to favour the Puri- 
tans ; which seems to confirm an observation of Hume, (Hist. 
of England, ch. 46,) that James seemed to make it a matter 
of conscience, to give trust and preferment almost indiffer- 
ently, to his Catholic and Protestant subjects. 

t Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 271. Extracts from the 
Plymouth Records, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 36 L 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 205 

themselves, it seemed to be at last, the ophiion of a sect. 

Mil 

majority of them, that they might safely proceed v.^^r-v^^ 
without an express licence of the king. Reasoning I6I8. 
very justly on the king's character, they concluded, 
that if there was no security in the promise inti- 
mated, there would not be much greater certainty 
in a written confirmation of it : for if afterwards, 
there should be a purpose or desire to wrong them, 
though they had a seal as broad as the house-floor, 
(as the writer expresses it,) it would not serve the 
turn, as there would be means enough found to 
recal or reverse it. Wherefore, they resolved to 
despatch messengers again, to conclude a contract 
with the Virginia Company, and to procure a pa- 
tent with as good and ample conditions as they 
could ; as also to treat and agree with such mer- 
chants and other friends, as had manifested a dispo- 
sition to hazard some capital in the adventure of 
such a voyage. 

Their agents arriving again in England, in the 1619. 
succeeding year, (1619,) found the council and ^J^^^'^^^^ 
Company of Virs:inia* so disturbed with factions the vir- 

i -f o ^ giniacom- 

and quarrels among themselves, as that no business puny occa- 
of any importance could be transacted with them. ^'°" 
These dissensions appear to have been founded on 
very frivolous grounds, if we are to believe the 
statement of them given by Robert Cushman, one 

* This council and Company of Virginia, was composed 
of persons acting under the third charter of the South Vir- 
ginia or First Colony, sometimes called the London Compa- 
ny. The North Virginia, or Plymouth Company, appear at 
this time to have relinquished all further attempts at making 
settle mente. «■ 



206 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, of the agents for the Puritans.* It seems, that no(!t 
^'^^s^ long before the last agents had returned to England, 
1619. Sir Thomas Smith, repining at his many offices and 
troubles, wished the Company of Virginia to ease 
him of his office in being treasurer and govemour 
of the Virginia Company; whereupon the Company 
took occasion to dismiss him, and chose Sir Edwin 
Sands in his stead. But Sir Thomas, vexed it 
seems, at being so soon taken at his word, grew 
very angry ^ and raised a faction to cavil and con- 
tend about the election, and endeavoured to tax Sir 
Edwin with many things, that might not only dis- 
grace him, but also either induce him to resign or 
disqualify him for the office. f What was the issue 
of these bickerings, Cushman does not state : but 
Sir Edwin continued in his office ; and the affairs of 
the colony already planted in Virginia, seemed to 
have prospered unusually from his accession there- 
to.J From his letter to Mr. Robinson and Mr. 

• See his letter dated May 8th, 1619, taken from the Ply- 
mouth Records, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 366, 368. 

t It may, perhaps, not be "Unnecessary to mention, that this 
Sir Thomas was not the learned Sir Thomas Smith, who was 
so celebrated in the reign of queen Elizabeth. That gentle- 
man died in August, 1577. See Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) 
Vol. 7, p. 404. This was probably some eminent merchant 
of London, and a city-knight. He was appointed treasurer of 
the Virginia Company by the king, in the body of the second 
Charter of Virginia, of May 23, 1609 ; though provision wa^ 
made by that charter, that such treasurer should afterwards 
be elected by a majority of the Company, and the third char- 
ter seems to have confirmed that privilege. 

I Sir Edwin Sands (or Sandys,) is represented by Hume, 
(Hist, of England, note [DD] to chap. 45,) ai^' a man of the 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 20f 

Brewster, of November 12th, 1617, he appears to sect. 
have been friendly to their proposal of removing to v^^-v^^^ 
America. It is couched in those polite and oblig- 1619. 
ing terms, which the chief officer of such a com- 
pany, who possessed liberal and generous senti- 
ments, would have written.* 

The extraordinary ill-treatment of a certain cap- 
tain Blackwell, towards some passengers of his ship, 
whom he carried about this time, as colonists to the 
setdement on James' river, in Virginia, operated 
much in the discouragement of the intended remo- 
val of the Puritans. t However, a patent being at 
length obtained from the Virginia Company, it was 
canied to Leyden for the consideration of the peo- 
ple there, with several proposals from English mer- 
chants and friends, for their transportation. By the 
advice of some friends, it seems, this patent was 
uot taken in the name of any of the society at Ley- 
greatest parts and knowledge in England," at this time next 
to Sir Francis Bacon. It was, on Sir Edwin's suggestion, after 
he was at the head of the Company as treasurer, that a freight 
of young women was sent over, in the 1620, to the planters 
of Virginia, to be bought by ;hem as wives, they being mostly 
destitute of families. The scheme succeeded so well, that it 
was repeated. It was probably also owing to him, that the 
commerce with the colony in Virginia, which had hitherto 
been monopolized by the treasurer and company, to the great 
depression of the colony as it was said, was in the same year 
laid open to all without restriction. See Holmes's Annals^ 
Vol. 1, p. 304, 206. 

* See this letter and their answer in Hazard's Collection^ 
Vol. I, p. 352. 

t See Cushman's letter, in Hazard's Collectioqp, Vo^. i. 



208 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, den, but in the name of a certain John Wincob, or 

VI [I 

\,y^,.-^^ WmcoU, who was a servant in the family of the 

1620. Countess of Lincoln. 
foTSl^ After mature deliberation, it was at last agreed, 

rica, and among the Puritans at Leyden, that a part of their 



Plymouth, congregation should go to America, in order to 
imsttts. niake preparation for the rest ; and therefore, such 
as chose to become the first adventurers were re- 
quested to fit and prepare themselves for the voy- 
age. Several of the congregation sold their estates, 
and made a common bank ; which, together with 
money received from other adventurers, enabled 
them to purchase a small vessel of sixty tons, and to 
hire in England another of one hundred and eighty 
tons, for their intended enterprise. In this smallcT 
vessel, the first adventurers embarked at or near 
Leyden, for Southampton, where most of them 
were to re-embark on board the larger ship, called 
the May-flower. They were under the conduct 
and direction of William Brewster, the ruling elder 
of their church ; for Robinson did not accompany 
them.* After their aiTival at Southampton, their 






* Mr. Robinson's caution, in evading the accompaniment 
of his flock to America, seems to afford some grounds to sus- 
pect that his " Catholicism," (though praised by Mr. Hohnes 
in his note V, before-cited, partook somewhat of that of his 
prototype, Robert Brown. This seems to be confirmed by 
what Mr. Holmes, in the same note observes, that " at first 
indeed, he favoured the rigid separation from the Church of 
England ; but, after his removal to Holland, /le was convinced 
of /lis 7}n&taf:e, and became ever after ^ more moderate in his sen- 
timents resfiecting separation^ And further, by what is said in 
Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts, Appendix No. I, to Vol. 
2 ; " He was at first a thorough separatist, and Mr. Hubbard 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 209 

"small ship being deemed unfit for sea, they were sect 
obliged all to embark on bOcird the May-flower, in ^.^^.^r^^^ 
which they finally left England on the sixth of Sep- I620. 
tember, 1620. After a boisterous passage, they 
discovered on the ninth of November, the land of 
Cape Cod. Perceiving that they had been carried 
to the northward of the place of their destination, 
they stood to the southward, intending to find some 
place near Hudson's river for settlement. Falling, 
however, among shoals, they were induced, from 
this incident, together with the consideration of the 
advanced season of the year, and the weakness of 
their condition, to relinquish that part of their ori- 
ginal design. The master of the ship, influenced 
by the fears of the passengers, and their extreme 
solicitude to be set on shore, shifted his course to 
the northward. The real cause of his doing which 
has been alleged to have been, a reward clandes- 
tinely promised to him in Holland, if he would not 
carry the English to Hudson's river.* Be that as 

says, was transported with their principles so far as to publish 
his opinions against hearing any of the preachei's of the Church 
of England, were they never so learned and pious, but after- 
wards acknowledged his error in a judiciu2is and Godly dis- 
course." Although the American republic is indebted to 
these " mistakes" and " errors" for those populous and flou- 
wishing states, denominated N^ew-England, yet, as Mr. Ro- 
binson evidently had no such sublime ideas in contemplation, 
and, if he had, the end would not sanctify the means, these 
" mistakes" and " errors" seem to form a lesson to ambitious 
religionists, to be cautious in leading simple and ignorant 
country people into situations, wherein they must necessarily 
endure inexpressible hardships and misery. 

* Although it is alleged by Morton, (New England Me- 
2 D 



210 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, it may, steering again for the Cape, the ship was 

^^^^^^^ clear of the danger before night ; and the next day, 

t620. a storm coming on, they dropped anchor in Cape 

Cod harbour, where they were secure from winds 

and shoals. 

Finding the harbour to be in the forty-second 
degree of north latitude, and therefore be}'ond the 
tenitory of the South Virginia Company, they per- 
ceived that their charter, received from that com- 
pany, was here useless.* The consequence of this 
inutility of tlicir charter, was, that they were desti- 
tute of the powers usually held necessary to insti- 
tute a government. The danger of this situation 
was strongly enforced upon the minds of the more 

morial 13,) that, " Of this plot, betwixt the Dutch and Mr. 
Jones, I have had lat'e and certain intelligence." To which 
Mr. Holmes, in his Annals, (Vol. 1, p. 199,) appears to give 
entire credit: yet, as it is stated by Hutchinson, (Hist, of Mas- 
sachusetts, Vol. 1, p. 11,) that "the Dutch laboured to per- 
suade them (the English at Leyden,) to go to Hudson's river, 
and settle under their West India Company; " the fact is sta- 
ted as above with some hesitation. It is possible, however, 
that as these adventurers preferred being under the govern- 
ment arid protection of the English, and their designed place 
of settlement was near Hudson's river, but to be considered 
as a part of the government of Virghiia, the Dutch might be 
averse to having them as neighbours in that way, and for that 
reason bribed the captain to. carry them farther from their 
settlement at NeAV York. See the Appendix No. 1, to Hutch- 
inson's Hist. Vol. 2. 

• This seems to be a better and stronger reason, why they 

never made any subsequetit use of their charter from the 

, !jouth Virginia Company, than that which has been usually 

assigned i)y historians ; that is, because Wincob, the pateTi- 

tee, never welit to New Ena-land. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 211 

prudent part of them, by some symptoms of Aictioii skct. 
and disorganisation exhibited during the passage v,,^,^-^^ 
among the inferior class of them, who were heard I620. 
to mutter, that when they should get on shore, one 
man would be as good as another, and they would 
do what they pleased. It was, therefore, judged 
expedient, that before disembarkation, they should 
combine themselves into a body politic, to be go- 
%-erned by the majority. A written instrument, 
drawn for that purpose, was accordingly subscribed 
on board tl^ ship, on the eleventh day of Novem- 
ber, by forty-one of their number, who are suppo- 
sed to have been all the males of age in the com- 
pany, which amounted to one hundred and one per- 
sons.* John Carver was then unanimously chosen 
their governour, for one j^ear. The principal inten- 
tion of this written instrument of express covenant, 
is said to have been " of a mere moral nature, that 
they might remove all scruples of inflicting neces- 
sary punishments, even capital ones, seeing all had 
voluntarily subjected themselves to them." It does 
not appear, however, notwithstanding the expedi- 
ency of this express compact, that the leaders of 
these colonists considered themselves so entirely 
brought back to a state of nature, and so totally 
emancipated from all former obligations, as to ac- 
knowledge no superior political power, and to be 
independent of all other governments. Although 
the most of them had been residents for some time 

* See this instrument in Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachu- 
setts, Vol. 2, Appendix No. Ijandjn Hazard's Collections, 
Vol. l,p. 119. 



212 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, ill Holland, and therefore, in modern construction. 



VIII 



were now expatriated from their native country; 
1620. yet they seem to have considered themselves as 
English subjects, and entitled to all the benefits 
and privileges resulting from the common law of 
England, and such English statutes, as were ap- 
plicable to their local situation. This indeed miglit 
possibly have been so deemed, as being the con- 
sequence of both their contract with the Virginia 
Company, and the permission of the king to set- 
tle in North America. They are said to have, 
therefore, " resolved to make the laws of England 
their rule of government, until they should agree 
upon laws suited to tlieir peculiar circumstan- 
ces."* 

Several of their principal men now went in 
their boat or shallop to search for a suitable place 
where they might fix their first settlement. After 
ranging for some days about the bay of Cape Cod, 
they entered a harbour, which after sounding they 
found to be fit for shipping, and after exploring the 
land adjacent to the harbour, they judged it a con- 
venient situation for a settlement, and returned with 
the welcome intelligence to the ship. They pro- 
ceeded with the ship to the newly discovered port, 
where they arrived on the sixteenth day of Decem- 
ber, a very improper season of the year, indeed, 
for the commencement of a colonial settlement, in 
such a climate. But necessity seemed now to have 
left them no choice, and as soon as they could erect 

* Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, Volume 3dy 
Appendix, No- L 



at 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 213 

habitations to receive their company, they were sect. 

VIII 

landed. The place, it seems, was called by the v,^rvN^ 
natives Patuxet, but is now well known by the I620- 
name of Plymouth, in the state of Massachusetts. 
From this small beginning, time has at length pro- 
duced those now populous states, which lie to the 
northward of New York. It is unnecessary for us 
to pursue their history ajiy farther in this place. 



SECTION IX. 

C^use^ of the severe statutes against Roman Catholics in England, 
during the reign of Elizabeth — Their conduct on the accession of 
James I — Thej cause of additional statutes against them — The 
successes of the Catholics and Puritans give rise to political par- 
lies — First scheme of a colony of English Catholics in Newfoimd- 
l^nd, under the patronage of Sir George Calvert — Sir George Cal- 
vert created lord Baltimore, visits Virginia, with further views of 
colonisation — The conduct of the Virginians towards him — Diffe- 
rences among the Catholics with respect to the oaths of allegiance 
and supremacy — Lord Baltimore forms the scheme of settling, 
a colony in Maryland — Settlement of a colony of Swedes on the 
Delaware — The Virginians oppose the lord Baltimore's schema — 
William Claybournc's claim — Lord Baltimore returns to England, 
and relinquishes his views of a settlement on Newfoundland — Ob- 
tains the promise of a grant of the province of Maryland, which is 
given on his death to his son Cecilius. 

WHILE the Puritans had thus sought an asy- 
lum in America, from the rigour of those laws< 
which the government of England, in the reigns of 
Elizabeth and James, hid thought proper to be 
enacted against non- conformists to their established 
Church, the Papists, who were eqiVally obnoxious 
to the majority of the nation, had nc»w begun also, 
from similar motives, to look about for a place of 
refuge. But it will be proper to examine a little 
into the precedent causes, which brought them into 
this situ,ation. 

It must be acknowledged by every candid Ca- 
tholic, at this day, that the church of Rome, from 
the third century to the French revolution, having 
considered itself as the only true Christian churchy 



SECT.. 
IX 



216 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, has uniformly held that all persons who ventured to 
kJ^,^.^^ promulgate and mamtain religious doctrines con- 
1620. trary to those which the ancient church are suppo- 
sed to have received from Jesus Clirist, were to be 
deemed heretics, liable, upon the principles of 
Christianity, to th^ punishment of death. Intole- 
rance, therefore, with respect to other sects of the 
Christian religion, seems to have been a principle 
necessarily inherent in the papal hierarchy. Those 
who professed this system of religion, seem to have 
been bound by the obligation of their religious pro- 
fession, to apply the strong arm of persecution, in 
order to correct any presumptuous aberration from 
the doctrines of their church. It appears, there- 
fore, that the reformers in general entertained iiTa- 
tional expectations, when they demanded a toleration 
of their opinions. It was, without doubt, under 
these impressions, that the English reformers, es- 
pecially in the reign of Elizabeth, renounced such 
expectations, as visionary hopes. The cruel per- 
secutions also, which they experienced during the 
reign of Mary, taught them what they were to ex- 
pect, should the Papists retain their power in that 
nation. There were, moreover, certain principles 
maintained by the Papists on the continent of Eu- 
rope, at the period of time of which we are now 
treating, which were totally inconsistent with any 
thing like good government. That the pope had a 
power of excommunicating kings who refused to 
obey his directions, and that thereupon all subjects 
of such king so excommunicated, were absolved 
from their allegiance to him ; and besides, that any 
of the subjects of such king might privately assas- 



HISTaRY OP MARYLAND. 217 

sinate him, and for such deed not only obtain the sf>ct. 

IX 

pardon and blessing of his holiness, but thereby v,.,r>r%^ 
merit an everlasting crown of glory in heaven ; and 
moreover, that it was lawful to put heretics to death 
by private assassination, without the formality of 
legal trial and public execution; that these were 
political as well as religious tenets, held by the 
greater number of the zealous Roman Catholics un- 
til the latter end of the seventeenth century, cannot 
possibly be denied."* The horrid massacre of the 
French Protestants on St. Bartholomew's da}-, in 
the year 1572, and the assassinations of two kings - 
of France, Henry III and IV, and that of the 
prince of Orange were all in the sixteenth century, 
avowedly justified on these principles. f Much 

* See note (P) at the end of the volume. 

t The assassins of the two kings of France were evidently 
instigated thereto more by their religious tenets than the poli- 
tical principle of tyrannicide. Sermons were preached, and 
books were written, to prove that, these princes being here- 
tics, and excommunicated by the pope, it was meritorious, 
even in individuals, to remove them. Nor do these tenets 
appear to have been peculiar only to the Jesuits. John Cle- 
ment, who assassinated Henry III, was a jacobin monk, of 
the order of DoirAnkans. The whole convent knew his de= 
sign, before he went on the execution of it, and approved it ; 
and pope Sixtus, Vth, of hypocritical notoriety, was not 
ashamed, in a full consistory, to Ihagnify the holy zeal of 
this bloody villain, and to extol his courage and piety beyond 
that of Judith. The reward set on the head of William, 
prince of Orange, (the Washington of the states of Holland,) 
by Philip H, of Spain, was, perhaps, the real motive of both 
the assassins who attempted his life ; but the first of them, who 
only wounded him, had confessed his intention to a Domini^ 
can priest, and received from him absolution, and a promise 

2 !• 



218 INTRODtrCTION TO A 

SECT, cause, therefore, had the people of England to ap. 
K^y^^^-,^ prehend danger in the enjoyment of theh' civil and 
religious liberties, had the crown of that kingdom 
descended, on the death of Mary, to any other 
claimant than Elizabeth. Hence, therefore, the 
severe laws which were enacted against Papists 
during the reign of that princess, were iiatiu'ally to 
have been expected. Not that the free enjo}^ment 
of religious opinions is not a natural right, inherent 
in every individual member of society, but if poli- 
tical opinions are so mingled with religion, as to af- 
fect the just as well as necessary administration of 
the government, without the preservation of which 
mankind cannot well, or at least happily exist, and 
those who profess such opinions are constantly en- 
deavouring to put them into action and practice, 
through the medium of religion, reason and com- 
mon sense dictate the necessit}' of suppressing the 
exercise of even such ostensible rights, by such 
laws as shall be adequate to the purpose.^ Whe- 

of eternal reward. The massacre of St. Baftholornew's was 
done by the orders of the king, (Charles IX) who openly 
avowed it, and was complimented upon it by the parhanient 
of Paris ; and pope Gregory, X'lII, went in a procession oh 
foot, to a church in Rome, to give public thanks on the news 
thereof, and ordered a jubilee over all Europe to be observed, 
in consideration of that great blow given to the heretics. See 
Bayle's Hist. Diet. art. Boucher, Chastel, Guignard, Hen. HI, 
and Sanctesivis. Also, the Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 24, p. 271, 
328, 354, 361, 435. — Vol. 26, p. 368, 398. — Vol. 31, p. 91. 
* Voltaire well observes upon the disptlte between the Gal- 
lican church and the pope, in the seventeenth century, before- 
mentioned, " that it was the cause of the people, whose re- 
pose requires, that their sovereign be independent of any fo 
reigti power." .^'^■f of Louia A'/F, ch. 3L 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 219' 

ther the several statutes enacted against popish recu- sect 
sants, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, .^^^^-^^ 
transcended these ends and purposes, and were un- 155«- 
necessarily severe, is quite a different question from 
that which involves the position just mentioned. 1j58. 

In confirmation of these obser\'ations, one of the the severe 
first incidents which occurred on the accession of gj^i'^^s^t 
Elizabeth to the throne, before anv parliament had^"'!'.''"*'" 
sat, or statutes been enacted, deserves notice. — Ed- En£,^aiui, 

/-^ 1 -r« !• 1 1 1 T-» during' the 

ward Carne, the English ambassador, at Rome, reis-n'of 
had orders to notify to the pope, (Paul IV,) Mary's 
death and Elizabeth's accession to the crown. This 
haughty high priest, whose bigotry of mind and 
austerity of temper appear to ha\'e increased in his 
extreme old age, replied to the ambassador, " That 
it was great boldness in her to assume the crown 
without his consent; that England was a fief of the 
holy see; that being illegitimate, she could not 
possibly inherit that kingdom; that she deserved 
no favour at his hands; but if she would renounce 
her pretentions, and refer herself wholly to him, he 
would show a fatherly affection for her."* In these 
■cnore enlightened days, no person can understand 
ihis in any other sense, than an assumption of power 
by a high priest of a particular sect of Christians, 

* Rapin's Hist, of England, (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 7, p. 183. 
Hume's Hist. ch. 38. This pope refused, but a few months 
before this, nearly upon the sanie principles, to confirm the 
election of Ferdinand I, of Austriaj as emperor of Germany, 
on the resignation of Charles V, " contending that the pope, 
as the vicegerent of Christ, was entrusted with the keys both 
of celestial and terresiial government ; and that from him the 
imperial jurisdiction was derived." Robertson's History of 
Charles V^ b. 12. 



J20 INTRO-DUCTION TO A 

SKCT. to dispose of the civil government, and with it, the 
y^^.>,.^s^ people of an independent nation. 

i56j. The barbarous association entered into, in a few 
years afterwards, between the courts of France and 
' Spain, at: their celebrated interview at Bayonne', in 
the year 1565, for a total extermination of the Pro- 
testants by fire and sword, (of which the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew's, before- mentioned, was, with- 
out adoubt, a consequence,) affords strong indica- 
tion of the principles of the Catholics at this era of 
time : which association seems to be too well au- 
thenticated in history, to admit of doubt.* 

1569. As a further proof of the improper intermixture 
of religion and politics, by the Catholics of these 
times, may be mentioned the bull of excommuni- 
cation, issued by pope Pius V, against Elizabeth, 
bearing date February 25, 1569, wherein, after de- 
claring, " that, as successor of St. Peter, he was 
constituted by Him that reigncth on high, over all 
nations and all kingdoms, that he might pluck up, 
destroy, dissipate, ruinate, plant, and build," he 
proceeds thus : ** We deprive her of her pretended 
right to the kingdom, and of all dominion, dignity, 
and privilege whatsoever ; and absolve all the no- 
bles, subjects, and people of the kingdom, and who- 
ever also have sworn to her, from their oath and all 
<luty whatsoever, in regard of dominion, fidelity, 
and obedience."! It was evident, from the concur- 
rent events of the times, that this bull was intended 

• Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 7, p. 261. Hume's 
Hist- ch. 39. 

t Wcodeson's Lect. Vol 2, p. 535, 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 231 

to foment plots and insurrections against her, and skct. 
particularly to forward a rebellion of her subjects, v^->rx^ 
which was at that time in agitation in the north of 1569. 
England. In pursuance of these objects, one John 
Felton had the hardiliood to affix the bull to the 
gates of the bishop of London's house ; and scorn- 
ing either to fly or to deny the fact, he was aiTcsted, 
tried, condemned, and hanged : and thereby obtain- 
ed the empty repute of a glorious martyrdom.* 

Not content with these means of dethroning the 1585. 
queen, and thereby restoring themselves to their 
former ascendancy in the state, the Catholics had 
recourse to the inhuman scheme, of causing her to 
be assassinated. One William Parry, an English 
Catholic gentleman, had received the queen's par- 
don, for a crime, by which he was exposed to capi- 
tal punishment ; and having obtained permission to 
travel, he retired to Milan, and made open profes- 
sion of his religion, which he had concealed while 
he remained in England. He was here persuaded 
by a Jesuit, that he could not perform a more meri- 
torious action, than to take away the life of his so- 
vereign and his benefactress. The pope's nuncio 
at Milan, when consulted by him, approved ex- 
tremely of this pious undertaking ; and Parry, 
though still agitated with doubts, went to Paris, 
with an intention of passing over to England, and 
executing his bloody purpose. He was here also 
encouraged in the design by one Thomas Morgan, 
an English Catholic refugee, then residing in France, 

* Hume's Hist, eh, 40, Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 
7, p. 350. 



2S2 INTRaDUCTION TO A 



SECT, of great credit in the party ; and though some other 



IX 



Catholic priests told him that the enterprise was 
1585. criminal and impious, yet having received the fur- 
ther encouragement of the pope's nuncio at Paris^ 
he determined to persist in his resolution, Before 
he left Paris, he wrote a letter to the pope on the 
subject ; in which he communicated his intention 
to the holy father, and craved his absolution and 
paternal benediction. This letter being conveyed 
to the pope, through the cardir^l Como, he re- 
ceived an answer from the cardinal ; by which, he 
found that his purpose was extremely applauded, 
and he went over to England, with a full design of 
carrying it into execution. But, as Hume on this 
occasion justly observes, " so deeply are the senti- 
ments of morality engraved in the human breast, 
that it is difficult even for the prejudices of false 
religion, totally to efface them." This bigotted 
assassin resolved, before he came to extremities, to 
try every other expedient for alleviating the perse- 
cutions under which the Catholics at that time la- 
boured. He found means of being introduced to 
the queen : assured her that many conspiracies were, 
formed against her ; and exhorted her, as she ten- 
dered her life, to give the Romanists some more 
indulgence in the exercise of their religion. But, 
lest he should be tempted by the opportunity, to 
assassinate her, he always came to court unprovided 
with every offensive weapon. He even found means 
to be elected a member of parliament ; and having 
made a vehement harangue against the severe laws 
enacted against the Catholics, was committed to 
custody. This circumstance, together with that ©f 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 223 

his perusal of a book, then lately written and pub- sect. 
lished by a doctor William Allen, afterwards a car- y^^^r^^^^^^ 
dinal, wherein it was attempted to be maintained, io85. 
that it was not only lawful, but honourable, to kill 
princes excommunicated, confirmed him in his for- 
mer resolution.* Having obtained his liberty, he 
communicated his intention to a person of the name 
and ancient family of the Nevils, who at first enter- 
ed zealously into the design, and was determined to 
have a share in the merits of its execution. But 
Nevil, becoming in the mean-time, next heir to the 
title of the earl of Westmoreland, which had been 
forfeited by the last earl, he conceived hopes, thaf 
by doing some acceptable service to the queen, he^ 
might recover the estate and honours. He there- 
fore, betrayed the whole conspiracy to the minis- 
ters ; and Parry, being thrown into prison, con- 

* This cardinal Allen was originally an English Catholic, 
bred at the university of Oxford, but shortly after Elizabeth's 
accession to the throne, and the restoratign of the reformed 
religion, he retired from England, and had the priocipal hand 
in founding the English Catholic college at Donay, on thp 
borders of France and Flanders, in the year 1568, where pro- 
bably he wrote his above-mentioned mischievous book. It 
was from here, as well as from similar institutions at St. 
Omer's and Leige, that the Catholics in England were sup- 
plied with priests during the reigns of Elizabeth and James. 
He was made a cardinal by pope Sextus V, about the time of 
the famous invasion of England by the Spanish armada, in 
1558, at the particulai^ request of Philip II, to whom this 
pope had given the investiture of England, after having ex- 
communicated Elizabeth, and deprived her as far as he couid, 
of her right to the kingdom. See Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's 
edit.) Vol. 7, p. 415, and ihe Mod. Univ. Hisv Vo>. 26^ 
p." 388. 



224 INTRODUCTION TO \ 



SECT, fessed the guilt, both to them and to the jury whd 

^^^^^^^■y,^ tried him. The letter from cardinal Como, being 

1585. produced in court, put the encouragement he had 

received both from the pope and the Ccirdinal, be* 

yond all question.* 

These incidents are here mentioned, only as a 
few of the most prominent proofs, with which the 
historians of those times abound, of the improper 
conduct of the English Catholics in the reign of 
Elizabeth ; which, if not a complete justification, 
yet greatly palliates the injustice, if any, in enacting 
those rigorous statutes against popery, which took 
■place in her reign, and which could not have been 
justified on any other principle.! 
1603. On the death of Elizabeth, and on the accession 
Their con- of Jamcs to the tlirouc, the Eno-lish Catholics, as 

duct on . 

the acces- bcforc obscrvcd, had cherished ardent hopes, that he 
James I. would rcstorc them to their lost influence and power. 
Disappointed in these expectations, and surprised 
and enraged, to find James on all occasions, express 
his intention of strictly executing the laws already 
enacted against them, and moreover actually giving 
his royal assent to further rigorous statutes against 
them,$ a few of the most zealous among them be- 
gan to revolve in their minds some means of libe- 
rating themselves from the persecution they expe- 
rienced. In the fury of these sentiments, they medi- 
tated that horrible contrivance usually denominated 

* Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 7, p. 446. Hume's 
Hist. ch. 41. 

t See note (Q) at the end of the volume, 
t See the statutes of I Jac. I, ch. 4 and 25. 



inSTORY OF MARYLAND. 22a 



the Gunpowder Plot : " an event," as Hume ob- sect 



IX. 



serves, " one of the most memorable that history 
has conveyed to posterity, and containing at once a i603. 
singular proof both of the strength and weakness of 
the human mind ; its widest departure from morals, 
and most steady attachment to religious prejudices ; 
a fact as certain, as it appears incredible." As this 
scheme consisted in blowing up by gunpowder, the 
two houses of parliament, while the king was deli- 
vering his speech to them from the throne, the ex- 
cellence of it, as boasted of by them, was, that by a 
sort of retributive justice, it would destroy at one 
blow, the authors of their sufferings, and bury their 
principal enemies in one common ruin. " They 
flattered themselves with the vindictive pleasure of 
beholding those sacrilegious walls, in which were 
passed the edicts for proscribing their church, tossed 
into a thousand fragments." Their scheme, how- 
ever, was discovered in a very extraordinary man- 
ner, within a few days prior to its intended execu- 
tion, and consequently became abortive. 

The parliament met in safety, and notwithstand- 1605-6. 
ine: the kind's speech to them contained a softening: ^^^ c 

o o 1 o causes or 

apology for the Catholics, they proceeded to enact additional 
laws, not only for the attainder of such offenders in against 
the late plot, as had made their escape out of the ^™' 
kingdom, but " for the better discovering and re- 
pressing of popish recusants," and " to prevent and 
avoid dangers" arising from such recusants.* By 
these statutes, additional disabilities, restraints, pe= 
nalties and forfeitures, were imposed upon the Eng;- 

• See the statutes of 3 Jac. 1. ch. 4 and 5. 
3 F 



226 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, lish Catholics beyond what they had been before 
^^~^r>.^ hable to. And thus, by an intemperate zeal aitd 
1606. injudicious conduct, not comporting with any sound 
principles of morality, however consistent it might 
be with their religious tenets, they brought on them- 
selves a greater degree of intolerance from the Pro- 
testants towards them, than they would otherwise 
have experienced. 

It does not appear that any other statutes against 
Catholics were enacted during the remainder of 
James's reign. Those already mentioned, both of 
this and the preceding reigns, contained severities 
enough to keep them in all due subjection, had 
those laws been executed on all occasions with the 
utmost rigour. But it seems to have been one of 
the greatest anxieties of James's life, to exculpate 
himself in the eyes of the rest of Europe, from the 
charge of being a persecutor of the Catholics, though 
he heartily joined in the suppression of the Puri- 
tans. He accordingly, therefore, pardoned popish 
recusant ct)nvicts, or remitted their forfeitures, as 
* often as the clamour of his Protestant subjects would 

permit him to do it \^'ith any seeming propriety. As 
the hoifse of commons during his reign, was com- 
posed entirely of members professing to be of the 
established Protestant Church, among whom were 
many strongly tinctured with Puritanism, and as 
the administration of justice and the execution of 
the laws, would necessarily be intrusted to many 
zealous Protestants, it socn became impossible for 
the Catholics to live in the kingdom, and at the 
same time openly profess their religion. When- 
'♦ ever, therefore, any great incident occurred relative 



HISTORY OP 1MARY1.AND. 



to jifrsQiis of that persuasion, the nation seemed to sect 



IX. 



feel an uncommon alarm. The assassination ofy^ , 
Henry IV, of France, which happened not long at- i6iu. 
terwiirds, had such an effect upon the Eno;lish na- 
tion, that James, instigated in all probability not a 
little by a sense of his own personal danger, was 
under a necessity of issuing his proclamation, com- 
manding all Jesuits and priests to depart the king- 
dom, and that no recusants should come within ten 
miles of the court. This tragical event in France, 
so roused the antipathy of the Protestants to the 
Catholics, that the laws began now to be executed 
against them with increased rigour and severity. 
The king's absurd obstinacy, in persisting in his 
endeavours to marry his son Charles to a princess 
of the royal family of Spain, was another constant 
source of uneasiness to his Protestant subjects. 
They dreaded the consequences of such a union, 
to their party in England ; and as the increased in- 
fluence and power of the house of commons, be- 
came obviously discernible towards the latter part 
of his reign, insomuch that larger strides towards 
that political liberty, which they afterwards, in 
Charles's reign, more boldly assumed, were for the 
first time manifested by that body, in a remon- 
strance to the king, on the then state of affairs. I621. 
Jealous of the extraordinary propensity of James to 
favour the Catholics, they urged to him in a bolder 
tone than any house of commons had ever before 
used towards a sovereign of England, the dangers 
which they apprehended to the Protestant religion, 
Among the many causes of those great and grow- 
ing mischiefs which they appreliended, thf y reprsr 



22« INTRODTJCTION TO A 

gECT. sented "the devilish positions and doctrines whereon 
IX • ... 

t^^^ popery is built, and taught with authority to their 

1621. followers, for advancement of their temporal ends. 

" The expectation of the popish recusants of the 
match with Spain, and feeding themselves with great 
hopes of the consequences thereof. 

" The interposing of foreign princes, and their 
agents, in the behalf of popish recusants, for conni- 
vance and favour unto them. 

" Their forfeitures compounded for, at such mean 
rates, as amounted to less than a toleration. 

" The licentious printing and dispersing of po- 
pish books, even in the time of parliament. 

" The swarms of priests and Jesuits, the com- 
mon incendiaries of all Christendom, dispersed in 
all parts of the kingdom. 

" And that the popish religion had such a restless 
spirit, that if it should once get but a connivance, 
it would press for a toleration : if that should be ob- 
tained, they must have an equality ; from thence 
they would aspire to superiority, and will never rest 
till they get a subversion of the true religion." 

Among a variety of other remedies for these evils, 
they pressed his majesty " to put in execution the 
laws for preventing of dangers by popish recu- 
sants."* 
The ex- It is at this session of parliament, that historians 

ccsscs ot 

the Catho- have fixcd the era of the rise of the two distinct po- 
puritans, litical parties in England, which have subsisted 
fo^Viitf. ^^'^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^7' under different denominations, 
eai par- Thosc who opposcd the absolute power, which the 

• Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 191. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 229 



king now claimed, formed soon afterwards what sect. 
was known by the name of the country -party, and s^-^^^s, 
received the powerful aid of the Puritans. The i^^i. 
court-party were principally composed of the clergy 
of the established Church, those also who enjoyed 
offices under the crown, and the vast body of Ca- 
tholics, which secretly lurked in the kingdom.* 
But as, happily for the English nation and their de- 
scendants in America, those who advocated the 
rights of the people, as exercised by their represen- 
tatives in parliament, finally prevailed, so even, 
throughout the remainder of the reign of James, 
they found themselves able to maintain that firm 
position which they had now taken in support of 
their religious as well as civil and political liberties. 
For the reasons before suggested, it became neces- 
sary, in their estimation, that the English Catholics, 
who certainly were but a minor part of the nation, 
should yield up their religious rights, when the en- 
joyment of them became manifestly incompatible 
with those of a majority of the people. It was in 
this state of things, that parliament now pressed the 
execution of the laws heretofore made against them. 
But James was too tenacious of what he deemed 
his prerogative, to give way so readily. Soon aft^r 
he had prorogued and dissolved parliament, in order 
to please the king of Spain, and to promote the pro- 
jected match between his son and the infanta, in 
defiance of the law, as well as the before-mentioned 
remonstrance of the commons, he issued writs to 

* Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 182- Hume's 
Hist, note [LL] to ch. 48. 



230 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, the judges and justices of the peace, to release all 
\^^y^,^.,^ the imprisoned recusants. Deeming himself head 
1621. of the English Church, and thereby possessed of 
siq^reme ecclesiastical power, he wished to have it 
considered, that the toleration of Catholics was a 
measure of that nature. But not only the religious 
Puritans murmured at this proceeding of the king ; 
the friends of civil liberty were alarmed at' so im- 
portant an exertion of prerogative i for it does not 
appear to have been definitively ascertained, at this 
period of time, whether the king had not a power of 
dispensing with penal statutes.* This last session 
of parliament, however, appears to have formed a 
crisis, from which the declension of the royal pre- 
rogative under the English constitution is mani- 
festly visible. As the Catholics had, prior to thi^. 
period, by the patronage of the king, gained such 
an evident ascendancy in their influence in the af- 
fairs of the nation, as to render the situation of the 
Puritans so uncomfortable, as to prompt them to 
emigration, so now the Puritans, in their turn, 
through the increased power and privileges of the 
house of commons ; of which many of them, or at 
least many of those who inclined much to favour 
them, were members, began to be enabled to retort 
upon the Catholics, their own intolerant system. 
By their clamours for a vigorous execution of the 

* Rapin says, that some stop was put to these dispensing 
mandates or writs of the king, by the advice of the lord keeper, 
"Williams. Rapin's Hist.(Tindal'sedit.) Vol. 8, p. 261, But 
this was subsequent to the period of time we are now speak- 
ing of, and at the time of the ratification of the Spanish treaty 
ofmarriage, in 1623. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 03 j 

laws against Papists, it became now necessary for sect. 
them also to Look about for a place of refuge. ' v.^-v-n^ 

It was in this situation of things, that Sir George I621. 
Calvert, who was still one of the principal secreta- fj^^gme of 
ries of state, and an acknowleda:ed Roman Catho- a colony 

' ^ . ofEng-lish 

lie, influenced probably by the then recent previous Catholics, 
example of the Puritans in New England, contem- found- 
plated a settlement of Catholics in Newfoundland. dT/the"' 
Standins: hie:h in the favour of his sovereis:n, not p^^™"'^^'^ 

^ '^^ _ \ _ ^ ' of Sir 

only perhaps from his long services to him as secre- George 
tary for many years, but from his late zealous exer- 
tions in promotion of the Spanish match, an event 
30 ardently desired by all the Catholics, they natu- 
rally looked up to him as one of their ablest pro- 
tectors.*" He easily, therefore, obtained a grant 

* These exertions of Sir George do not appear to have 
been strictly honourable, if what is mentioned by Rapin be 
true. He is said to have been one of those whom count Gon- 
demar, the Spanish ambassador, had bribed with presents and 
pensions, to cherish in the king this vain project of marrying 
his son to the inlanta. It is said also, that the couut extend- 
ed his system of bribery, on this occasion, even to the very 
ladies about the court, of which we may be excused for men- 
tioning a pleasant anecdote. It happened that he had ne- 
glected to bri|je the lady Jacobs, who, upon his passing by her 
window in his chair, instead of answering his salutation as 
usual, only gaped with her mouth, which repeating agaii^ 
n^xt day, he sent to know the reason ; she replied, that " she- 
had a mouth to stop as well as other ladies." In justice to 
Sir George, however, it ought to be observed, that being a 
zealous Rpman Catholic, he might possibly have been active 
in promoting the matrimonial union betweeu the crowns of 
England and Spain, not under the influence of a bribe, b«t, 
through zeal in promoting the interests of his religion. See 
Rapin's Hist. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 167. There is a let- 
ter of Sir Geoi'ge Calvef t to secretary Gonway, about the Spa- 



232 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, from the king, of that part of the island of New- 
y^^^^ foundland, which hes between the Bay of Bulls, on 
1621. the east coast thereof, and Cape St. Mary's on the 
south, which was erected into a province, and called 
Avalon. This grant was, apparently, in direct re- 
pugnance to that previously made by the king, of 
the same tract of country, in the year 1610, as be- 
fore-mentioned, to the earl of Northampton, and 
others. But, as the expedition under Mr. Guy, 
for a settlement thereof, had totally failed, and the 
patentees had, to all appearance, entirely relinquish- 
ed their intention of making any further use of their 
patent. Sir George might, with propriety, accej^t 
the grant. He accordingly, therefore, prepared to 
execute the purposes and intention of his patent. 
Previous, however, to his own embarkation for the 
country granted to him, he thought it most proper 
for him to send a small colony thither, under the 
command of a captain Edward Wynne, as gover- 
nour, who seated himself and colonists, at a place 
called Ferryland, a harbour on the east coast of 
Newfoundland, between Cape Race and the Bay of 
Bulls. Here he commenced a settlement, erected 
granaries and store-houses, and built the largest 
dwelling-house that had ever been seen on the is- 
1622. land. In the following year, (1622,) he set up a 
salt-work, and had the encouragement, through the 
interest and means of the proprietor, of receiving a 
reinforcement to his colony, by the arrival of an addi- 

> 

nish match, among the Harleian MSS. in the British mu- 
seum ; but of the contents of it, we have not on this side of 
the Atlantic, a convenient opportunity of knowing. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 233 

tional number of colonists and fresh supplies of skct. 

IX 

stores and provisions. Exaggerated accounts ofv.^,,v>sV 
the fertility of the soil, and pleasantness of the coun- 16:^4. 
try, being transmitted to Sir George,* he is said 
t-o have determined to remove thither and reside 
there with his family. Continuing to be one of the 
principal secretaries of state, and appointed by James ifis*. 
one of the provisional council in England, for the co- 
lony of Virginia, in the commission to Henry Vis- 
count Mandeville, and others,t issued by that mo- 
narch shortly after the judgment in the court of 
king's bench on the quo warranto^ to avoid the for- 
mer charters of Virginia, it is not probable that Sir 
George put in execution his intention of removing 
to Ferryland, prior to the death of king James. On ^^^^" 
this event it seems to have been supposed, that this 
commission, as well as that to Sir Francis Wyat 
and others, of the 26th of August (1624,) for the 
establishing a government in Virginia, were annul- 
led by the demise of the crown4 On the acces- 
sion of Charles to the throne, it appears, that Sir 
George Calvert ceased to be a secretary of state, 
for we find that lord Conway and Sir John Cook 
are mentioned as secretaries of state in August, 
1625, about five months after the death of king 
James, § and Sir George Calvert is no more men- 

* Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 39, p. 250. 

t This commission bears date July 15th, 1624, about eight 
^nonths before the death of king James. See it in Hazard's 
Collections, Vol. 1, p. 183. See note (R) at the end of the 
volume. 

% Holmes's Annals, Vol, I, p. 234. 

§ Rapin's Hist, of Eng. (Tindal's edit.) Vol. 8, p. 333.— 
2 G 



2^4 INtROttUCTlON TO A 

SECT, tioncd in histoiy in that capacity. He was, for his 
^^^^^^^^ past services to the crown, created about this time, 
1625. (either by king James, a litde before his death, or 
by Charles, in the first year of his reign,) lord baron 
of Baltimore, in the kingdom of Ireland.* Disen- 
gaged from the duties of office, he had now leisure 
to attend to his project of establishing a colony in 
America. With this view, it is said, that in the 
beginning of the reign of Charles he visited in per- 
son his colony in Newfoundland. t Residing here 
for a few years, he soon discovered that it was not 
a country fit, or at least eligible for colonisation. 
As he had, without doubt, received full information 
of the flourishing situation of the colony of Virginia, 
and flwourable accounts of the climate and soil of the 
Lord Bai- co^i^^T bordering on the Chesapeake, he was in- 
timore vi- d^ced, in the year 1628, to visit that colony, in 
nia^ ' ''' search of some more desirable situation for his Ca- 

From the English histories of these limes it appears, that 
there were then usually but two principal secretaries of state, 
and lord Clarendon (Hist, of the Rebellion, p. 21,) in charac- 
terising the different personages of young Charles's court, 
mentions " the two secretaries of state," Sir John Coke 
and Sir Dudley Carleton, the latter of whom had been re- 
cently put into the place of lord Conway, removed for age 
and incapacity. Lord Clarendon also here observes, that " the 
secretaries of state were not in those days officers of that 
magnitude they have been since, being only to make despatch- 
es upon the conclusion of councils, not to govern or preside 
in those councils." 

* He was not created lord Baltimore at the time of the 
commission of July 15, 1624, being then styled only Sir 
George Calvert. 

t Chalmers's Annals, Vol. K p. 20!. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 235 

tholic dependents.* Whether a jealousy of his co- skct. 
lonial views, or those general prejudices against the v^,.-v->,^ 
papists, which were now more prevalent than e^'er, 1628 « 
even in the mother country, operated witli the Vir- 
ginians, his visit was received by them most ungra- 
ciously indeed. What renders this reception of him 
somewhat more surprising, is, that the colonists of 
Virginia had not emigrated from England to evade 
religious persecution, as those of New England are 
supposed to have done, but seem to have been allu« 
red to it originally by the prospect of a sudden ac- 
cumulation of wealth, by means of t^ie discovery of 
mines as the Spaniards had done, or a shorter route 
to the Indies. The Church of England was then the 
established religion in Virginia, and Puritanism had 
not been hitherto encouraged among them. It is 
true, that those in England who were denominated 
high churchmen, as archbishop Laud and others, 
were accused by the Puritans of being inclined to po- 
pery; but it is to be remembered, that king Charles 
constantly professed, and apparently with sincerity, 
to be alike opposed to popery and Puritanism, f He 

• Some writers make his visit to Virginia to have been in 
I60I; (See Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 261 ;) but Burk-in 
his late History of V^irginia, Vol. 2, p. 25,) places this event 
in 1628; for which he seems to rely on a MS. copy of" An» 
cient Records" of Virginia, in his possession, preserved from 
destruction in the time of the American revolution, by colo- 
nel Byrd. 

t Even Rapin acknowledges, that he did not believe that ei- 
ther the king or archbishop Laud ever formed the design of 
restoi'ing the Romish religion, and mentions the circumstance 
of the archbishop being offered a cardinal's cap, if he would 
help to do it. Rapin's Hist (Tindal's edit.j Vol. 8, p. 526-7, 



236 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, was evidently less inclined to favour the papists than 
y,^-^^^^ his fatJier had been. It is clearly perceptible through- 
1628. out the early part of his reign, that the churchmen 
considered themselves as standing upon a ground 
quite distinct from either the papists or the Puri- 
tans. Taking the tone from the sovereign, the offi- 
cers of justice began to put in execution the laws 
against both more frequently than in the former reign 
tl:iough the emptiness of the royal coffers induced 
the monarch to connive at the frequent practice of 
compounding for the penalties. It is not impossible, 
but that this disposition of the minds of church- 
men towards the Catholics, had passed by this time 
across the Atlantic to Virginia. 
The con- Immediately on the arrival of lord Baltimore in 
Virgi- Virginia, the assembly of that province, actuated, 
w^rds*^ as is supposed by a late historian,* by a sense of 
hun. duty, caused the oaths of allegiance and supremacy 
to be tendered to him and his followers. He rejected 
them, proposing, however, at the same time, for 
himself and his followers a form of oath, which he de- 
clared himself ready to accept. As particular forms 
of these oaths were prescribed by particular statutes, 
it was not in the power of the assembly to dispense 
with them after being tendered. In this state mat- 
ters rested, the assembly contenting itself with lay- 
ing the whole transaction before the privy- council 
in England. t 

Setting aside the want of courtesy and hospitality 
ill this treatment of lord Baltimore, and the ques- 

• Burk, in his Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 2. p. 25, 
t Burk's Hist. /&U 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 237 

tionable colonial policy of the measure, as it would sect. 

• " . IX 

appear to us at this day, considerable doubts might v,^,-v>»^ 

arise, as to the legal power of the assembly, in this 1628. 
instance, to tender these oaths to his lordship. No 
such power appears to have been given by what is 
called the first charter of Virginia, of 4 Jac. 1. By 
the second charter of the 7 Jac. 1, power was given 
(as before-mentioned*) " to the treasurer for the 
time being, and any three of the council," (that is, 
any three of the council of Virginia in England^) 
" to tender and exhibit the said oath" (of suprema- 
cy,) " to all such persons as shall at any time be 
sent and employed in the said voyage." By the 
third charter of Virginia, of the 9 Jac. 1, power is 
given to the treasurer or his deputy for the time 
being, " or any two others of the said council, for 
the said first colony in Virginia, to minister and 
give the oath and oaths of supremacy and allegiance, 
or either of them, to all and every person and persons 
which shall at any time or times hereafter, go or 
pass to the said colony of Virginia." But it is evi- 
dent, that thtsQc\ix\isQso^ dedimiis potestateniy in both 
these charters, vested authority for that purpose in the 
treasurer and company in England^ and not in any 
of the members of the government in Virginia^ and 
that too must have been necessarily exercised by 
them before such persons passed into Virginia. But 
after all, should this reasoning not be thought to be 
correct, it is certain, that these charters were all 
annulled by the judgment of the court of king's 
bench, on the quo warranto before-mentioned, and 

• See this clause of this charter before recited in p. 159. 



238 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, the assembly itself was but a self-created body, not 
x^-^^^-^^ authorized by the commission of government td 
1628. Mr. John Hervey, of the 26th of March, 1627, 
the only then existing authority for the government 
of Virginia. Moreover, if these oaths were tender- 
ed to him by two justices of the peace, of the pro- 
vince, the statutes which enabled two justices to 
do so, expressly excepted noblemen from their ju- 
risdiction. 

DifFeren- It was not to bc cxpcctcd, that such a conscien- 
ces among , ^,. .,t-.i- • xj.t 

tiie Caho- tious Catholic, as lord Baltimore is represented to 
respec '^to have been, could with propriety have taken the 
of\iie^' bath of supremacy, which oath at that time was the 
glance quc prescribed by the statute of 1 Eliz. ch. 1, sec. 

andsupre- ^ '' i i t i i j 

macy. 19; inasmuch as he must thereby have declared, 
that the king was the only supreme governour of 
all his dominions and countries, " as well in all spi- 
ritual or ecclesiastical tilings or causes^ as tempo- 
ral." This could not consistently be done by one 
who believed the pope to be the supreme head of 
the Christian church. It was, probably, then known 
also by his lordship, being an Irish peer, that pope 
Urban VIII had but a few years before (in the year 
1626) issued his bull to the Irish Catholics, in 
which " he exhorted them rather to lose their lives, 
than to take that wicked and pestilent oath of su- 
premacy, whereby the sceptre of the Catholic 
church was Avrested from the hand of the vicar of 
God Almighty."* But as to the oath of allegiance, 
which was that prescribed by the statute of 3 Jac. 
i, ch. 4, sect. 15, although it required a denial 

■ * Leiand's Hist, of Irelsmd. Vol. 2, (ch. 8,) p. 479. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 239 

of the pope's power of excommunicating kings, and sect. 
thereby deposing them, yet many of the moderate ^,.^-v■^^^ 
English Catholics, soon after the making of the sta- i628. 
tute of 3 Jac. 1, in the year 1606, thought that 
they could with propriety, and actually did, take 
the oath prescribed by that statute ; and in this they 
were encouragea by George Black well, who had 
been established as the archpriest or superior of the 
Catholic church in England, and \\ ho gave it as his 
opinion that the English Catholics might with safety 
take this oath of allegiance. But pope Paul, by a 
brief, in 1606, forbade them to take it. Black well 
refused to publish the brief, and on that account 
the English Catholics conceived, that it was a forged 
one. I'he pope, however, renewed his prohibition, 
and cardinal Bellarmine wrote a sharp letter of re- 
proof to Blackwell, exhorting him to redress his 
fault, and rather suffer martyrdom than continue 
that course. Blackwell answered Bellarmine, that 
since the ablest divines did not believe that the pope 
had any power over the temporals of princes, he 
thought that he might in conscience take the oath ac- 
cording to that opinion.* This letter of Bellarmine 

• Blackwell probably alluded here to some controversial 
writings, which the then recent dispute between pope Paul V, 
and the republic of Venice, had occasioned. That pontiff 
had thought that some laws or decrees of the senate interfe- 
red with his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and demanded by his 
nuncio, that they should be revoked. The senate supposing 
that these laws concerned only matters which were properly 
the subjects of their internal police, refused the demand. 
Two clergymen also, who had committed crimes, were about 
to be punished. He demanded, that they should be delivered 
nft, to be tried by his ecclesiastical judges. This also the 



240 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT, and the two briefs of the pope, drew forth the pen 



IX. 



of king James, who was always glad of an opportu- 
1628. nity of displaying his talents for theological contro- 
versy ; and it is said,* he clearly demonstrated that 
the cardinal had confounded the two oaths of supre- 
macy and allegiance, and thereby shown, that he 
did not imderstand the subject. The intended dis- 
tinction between them, appears to have been, that 
the oath of supremacy obliges the sul^ject to ac- 
knowledge the king for supreme head of the Church 
of England, as well as to bear allegiance to him ; 
but the oath of allegiance, prescribed by the statute 
of 3 Jac. 1, requires only submission and obedience 
to the king, as a sovereign, independent of any other 
power upon earth. f So that it was supposed, that 
every Catholic could safely take this new oath, un- 
less he was one of those who thought, that to be a 
true Catholic it was necessary to believe, that the 
pope had power to depose kings, and give away 
their dominions. It is said also,| that the commons 
having put into the rough draught of the oath, 
" that the pope has not power to excommunicate 
the king," James observed, that these words might 

senate refused. The consequence was, that his holiness pro- 
nounced the doge and the republic excommunicated. This 
dispute occasioned many books to be written, in different 
parts of Europe, relative to the bounds of division between 
ecclesiastical and political power ; in which many sound Ca- 
tholics attempted to maintain the independence of princes and 
states against the papal power. See Dupin's Hist, of the 
Church, Cent. 17, chap. 2 and 3. 

* Rapin's Hist. (Tindai's edit.) V'ol. 8, p. 65, 

t Ibid. Vol. 8, p. 62. 

\ Ibid.. 



inSTOttY OF MARYLANtl 2^ 

possibly offend his good Catholic subjects, and It sect. 
would be sufficient to assert, that the pope's ex- v,^^-~^r>w' 
communication could not authorise subjects to rise 1628 
against their sovereign. Whether foreigners, espe- 
cially Catholics, really understood these distinctions 
or not, it seems that soon afterwards, in conformity 
to the sense of it at the court of Rome, the English 
Catholics generally adopted the resolution of rejectr 
ing both oaths alike. It was not to be A\'ondered at, 
therefore, that lord Baltimore should on this occa- 
sion, have also pursued that line of conduct. 

Whether lord Baltimore personally, at the time Lord Bai- 
of his visit to Virginia, explored that tract of coun- ^^1116 
try now denominated Maryland, of which he after- ^'^^^'"^**^ 

"' ' settling' a 

wards procured a grant, we are not positively in- colony io 
formed. But, as the obtaining a more complete ^ ^' 
knowledge of the country bordering on the Chesa* 
peake, than he could otherwise possibly have from 
report, must have been the principal object of his 
visit, we cannot but suppose, tliat he must at this 
time, notwithstanding the discouragement of his 
pursuits by the Virginians, have made the tour by 
water of the principal parts of the Chesapeake bay. 
Although it is highly probably, that the Virginians 
had then been for some time in the practice of trad- 
ing and bartering with the Indian natives inhabiting 
the shores of that bay, even to its head, at the mouth 
of. the Susquehanna; and might, indeed, as it is 
said, have established trading- houses on some of 
the islands toward the head of the bay,* particularly 
perhaps on the isle of Kent ; yet, if the " ancient 

• Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 26i, 
2 M 



242 rNTRODUCTlON TO A 

SECT, records" of Virginia, before -mentioned, and cited 
^ij^;^^ by a late historian of that state, be authentic to 
1628. prove that this visit of lord Baltimore to Virginia, 
was in the year 1628, which we have here taken as 
granted, there are strong grounds to presume, that 
at this time there had been no actual settlements 
made, either by the Virginians or any other Euro- 
peans, within the lines and limits of any part of that 
country for which the lord Baltimore afterwards ob- 
tained a grant, unless a colony of Swedes and Fins, 
which had arrived in the Delaware, in the preced- 
ing year, (1627,) and may be supposed to have been 
in this year settling themselves at the mouth of 
Christina creek, near Wilmington, in what is now 
called the Delaware state, be considered to have 
been within the limits of his lordship's patent. It 
may be proper to take some further notice here, of 
this attempt at colonisation by the Swedes, inas- 
much as it was made the ground of a charge in the 
bill in chancery, filed by the Penns, proprietors of 
Pennsylvania, in the year 1735, against lord Balti- 
more, in a dispute concerning the bounds of their 
provinces, that his lordship had set forth, in his pe- 
tition to the king for his grant, what was not true ; 
that is, that the country for which he prayed a grant, 
*' xvas not then cultivated and planted, though in cer- 
tain parts thereof, inhabited by certain barbarous 
people ;'* by means of which false suggestion, it 
was contended that his patent was void, at least for 
so much as was within their claim.* 

* Fi'om a MS. copy of the above-mentioned bill in chance- 
ry, in my possession, the following clause is abstracted : " and 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 243 

It appears, that in the year 1626,imder the reign sect. 
of Gustavus Adolphiis, king of Sweden, a scheme v,„r-v^>^ 
w^^as formed in that kingdom, for settling a colony i628. 
in America. This was chiefly promoted by the ^'"J^^^";,^ ^ 
ereat commendation which WiUiam UsselHn, (orc"i<^"yof 

o ^ Swedes on 

Usehng,) an eminent Swedish merchant, gave'oftht DcLv 
the country in the neighbourhood of what was then 

your orators further show unto your lordship, that on the 
eastern side of the said peninsula or tract, and also above the 
said peninsula or tract, within the main land or continent, and 
towards the sea and the estuary and river of Delaware, there 
was, of very early and ancient times, {the begimiing whereof 
is not knoivJis) a settlement and plantation, made and planted 
and inhabited by Christians of the Swedish nation ; and the 
said settlement and plantation was afterwards held and inha- 
bited in the year 1609, and for many years then after, by 
Christians under ihh dominion of the States General, of 
the United Provinces." Mr. Murray, (afterwards lord Mans- 
field,) who dix;w this bill, was certainly misinformed as to two 
facts exhibited in this allegation. No authentic history has 
ever yet undertaken to show, that the Swedes were settled 
on the Delaware, in " times the beginning whereof is not 
known," nor indeed prior to the year 1627, as is stated in 
Proud's Hist, of Pennsylvania ; and it is, moreover, entirely 
inconsistent with the early events of the History of Virginia, 
wherein no circumstance to that purpose is recognised. The 
other fact stated, seems to be in consequence thereof, evi- 
dently groundless, to wit : that the Dutch had " afterwards, 
in the year 1609, held and inhabited the said settlement of the 
Swedes." Now it seems to be agreed on all sides, that cap- 
tain Hudson did not make his voyage of discove7-y, under the 
authority of the Dutch, until the year 1609 ; and it was not 
until the next year, (1610,) that the Dutch colony was sent 
out, which settled on Manhattan (now New York) island. It 
would necessarily take some years for them to have extended 
their /losscssions and habitations to the Delaware. Accord- 
ingly, the historian of Pennsylvania, (Proud.) makes the first 



24,4r iNTR<5DXJCTI0:N TO A 

SECT, tailed New Netherlands, now New Jersey and New 
,,_^^^^^-s^ York, Gustavus was thereby induced to issue a 
1628. proclamation, exhorting his subjects to contribute 
to a company associated for the settlement of a co- 
lony in that country. Considerable sums were raised 
by contribution ; and in the next year, (1627,) a 
nu'mber of Swedes and Fins came over to America. 
They first landed at Cape Inlopeuy the interior Cape 
of Delaware bay,* which, from its pleasant appear- 
ance to them, they named Paradise-point. They 
are said to have purchased of some Indians, the 
land from Cape Inlopen to the falls of Delaware, on 
both sides of the river, which they called Ntnv 
Swedeland stream ; and made presents to the Indian 
chiefs, to obtain peaceable possession of the land so 
purchased : with whom they apjfear to have lived 

settlement of the Dutch on the Delaware, to have been in the 
year 1623, "near Glocester, in New Jersey;" which appa- 
rently indicates, that their first exploring excursions to the 
Delaware were from Manhattan across the Jersies ; and this 
was, as Proud asserts, " before any of the Swedes came into 
America." See Proud's History of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, 
p. 110. 

* A note is here made by Mr. Proud, (in his Hist, of Penn- 
sylvania, Vol. 1, p. 1 11,) as follows : " this cape is frequently 
confounded with Cape Htnlofien, the exterior, or the False 
Ca/iPy in Fenivick^s island, being written in the same manner, 
and sometimes Henlofien ; said to be a Swedish word, signi- 
fying entering in. It was also fonnerly, sometimes called 
Cape Cornelius, and afterwards, by irniiam Penn, Cape 
James.'' From this it would appear, that the aspirate letter 
H, in the Swedish language, prefixed to the word Inlofien^ 
altered the sense of it, from the interior to the exterior cape, 
the lattej" of which was at Fenwick's island. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 245 

ilTi much amity ;* but they were frequehtly disturb- sect. 
^d by the Dutch settled at Manhattan, now New v^^^^^i^. 
York, who, extending their territories, which they 1628, 
called New Netherlands, so as to include the western 
shores of the Delaware, built a fort in the year 1630, 
on a small creek near Cape Inlopen or James, call- 
ing it Hoarkill, since called Lewis town.f While 
we are upon this subject, it may not be improper to 
observe further, that it seems to be agreed by his- 
torians, that in the succeeding year, (1631,) the 
Swedes erected a fort on the west side of Delaware, 
at a place near Wilmington, upon the river or creek, 
which still, from the name of the fort, is called 
Christina, or commonly Christee?i,X where they had 
hid out a town, and made their first settlement.^ 

* Smith, in his Hist, of New Jersey, says, it is uncertain 
■whether they bought the land of those natives, who could 
properly convey it. Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 242. 

t The building of this fort at Lewis town, is differently re- 
lated in Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 259, under the year 1630. 
He says, " the Dutch continuing their pretensions to the land 
settled by the Swedes, one of the Swedes built a fort (this 
year) witliin the Capes of Delaware, " at a place called Hoar- 
kill ;" for which he cites Smith's Hist, of New Jersey, 22. 
So that from him it would seem, that the fort above-mention- 
ed Was built by the Swedes, and not the Dutch, as it is stated 
in Proud's Hist, of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, p. 11 3 ; from whence 
■what is said above in the text here, is taken. 

"^ This is sometimes corruptly spelt Christiana, but as the- 
name of Gustavus's mother was Christina, and he had a 
daughter, born in 1626, called Christina, who succeeded him 
as queen of Sweden, and was much celebrated in history, it is 
probable that Christina is the true name of the fort and creek. 

$ Proud's Hist, of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, p. 1 15. It seems 
to hafe been th,e opinion of two very judicious annalists of our 



246 INTRODUCTION TO A 



SECT. Supposing this settlement of the Swedes at Chris- 
,^r.^y^^^^ tina, in the year 1631, to have been the first p€?'?na- 
1628. nent settlement made by them on the Delaware, as 
it would appear to be, although temporary habita- 
tions might have been erected by them before that 
time at Hoarkill, or other places, for the purposes 
of traffic with the natives, it goes very far to justify 
the suggestion of lord Baltimore before-mentioned, 
that the territories for which he prayed a grant, were 
"hitherto unsettled ;" which receives further con- 
firmation by the possibility of his being ignorant of 
the first trafficking voyage of the Swedes to the 
Delaware, in the year 1627, which was but the year 
preceding that of his visit to Virginia. But allow- 
ing that he had full knowledge of the arrival of the 
Swedes in the Delaware, in th# year 1627, it was 
natural for him to have considered them only as in- 
terlopers, intruding into the British dominions;* 

country, that neither the Swedes nor Dutch had, prior to the 
year 1629, formed any jicrmanent settlements on the Dela- 
Avare. In Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 251, (under the year 
1629,) it is said : " Although the subjects of different nations 
now traded with the natives in the bay of Delaware, nb settle- 
ments appear to have been formed on either margin of it, by 
Ihe Dutch or Swedes ;" for which he cites Chalmers, 1, 227. 
* That all other nations who attempted to make settlements 
in any part of North America, especially in those parts of it 
lying between the colonies of Virginia and New England, 
were considered by the English at this time, as intruders 
within their dominions, is evident, not only from the preced- 
ing expedition of captain Argall, against the French and 
Dutch as before-mentioned, but from their subsequent con- 
tests with the Dutch about their settlement at Manhattan. 
This claim of theirs was founded on the right of prior disco- 
verv bv Sebastian Cabot : to demonstrate which, a small tract 




HISTORY OF MARYLAND. ^ 24: 

and therefore, in his representation to his majlfety, sect 
not entitled to be considered as persons, whose set 
tlements could obstruct his grant. The Dutch, 1628 
whatever their subsequent claims might ^ave been, 
had then certainly made no permanent settlements 
within the limits of his grant. With regard to the 
extent of his patent to the fortieth degree of latitude, 
(inclusive,) it is to be observed, that the latitudes 
of the different places of such a new country, must 

or essay was drawn up by some anonymous writer, most pro- 
bably towards the end of the Dutch war in 1 654, but publish- 
ed in Thurloe's State Papers, under the year 1656 ; (see it in 
Hazard's Collections, Vol. l,p. 602,} entitled "A Brief Nar- 
ration of the English Rights to the Northern parts of Ame- 
rica ;" in which the author, after some laboured reasoning, 
and metaphysical distinction between general and particular 
rights, concludes, " tMt as the general and particular rights 
of the English to those northern parts of America, are so 
plainly and perspicuously laid doAvn, so upon a due examina- 
tion it will be found, that the Dutch have no right at all, either 
in the general or particular, but have intruded inio and anti- 
cipated the English in their rights." Agreeably to this right 
of the English, preparations were made by the New Eng- 
landers, in 1654, for conquering the Dutch settlement at 
Manhattan ; but Oliver, desirous that the two sister republics, 
the English and Dutch, should be well with each other, 
clapped up a sudden peace in April, 1654, which put an end 
to the hostile intentions of New England, and left the Dutch 
for some years in quiet possession of New Netherlands. In 
the next year, (1655,) the Dutch made a conquest of all the 
Swedish settlements on the Delaware. Smith's Hist, of New 
York, 18, 19 : but Oliver, charmed with the fine character of 
Charles X, king of Sweden, made a treaty with him in the 
year 1656, in which he promised to grant such of his ma- 
jesty's Swedish subjects as should be recommended by him, 
" special licence" to trade in America. See Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 605, and Hvime's Hist. ch. 61. 



248 



INTRODUCTION TO A 






The Vir 
j^inians 
oppose 
Ihe lord 
Balti- 
more's 
scheme. 



SECT, hav^ been subject to much error, being often taken 
V>^ and so set down by unskilful persons ; and, as lord 

1628. Hardwicke observed, in the great case of these two 
proprietors, (the Penns and lord Baltimore,) before 
referred to, it is a fact, that latitudes were then fixed 
much lower than they have been since found to be 
by more accurate observations. A mistake of the 
latitude, in extending his northern bounds, might 
tlierefore have been very unintentionally made.* 

As both the secorid and third charters of Vir- 
ginia^ before-mentioned, unquestionably compre- 
hended the whole of the country afterwards called 
Maryland, rt wns to be expected that the colonists 
of Virginia, would make some objections to any 
grant, whereby a part of their territory should be 
lopped off from them and tr^sferred to others. 
But, although some apprehensions on this ground 
of supposed injury to them in their rights, were art- 
fully raised among them, so as to induce them in a 
few years afterwards, to prefer a petition to the king 
and council, against any grant of their territory to 
lord Baltimore, as will hereafter be seen in its pro- 
per place ; yet it appears, that they had too much 
discernment, not to perceive, on more mature re- 
flection, that a colony planted so near to them as 
that of Maryland, so far from being injurious, would 
be highly beneficial to them, particularly in contri- 
buting to their greater security from the hostile in- 
vasions of the savages. And when we reflect upon 
the enormous extent of those territories inchided 
within the lines of their charters, to wit : " from the 



* See note (H) at the end of this volume, before referred to. 




m 

HISTORY OF MARYLAND. ^ 249 

point of land called Cape or Fomt Comfort, A)ng sect^ 
the sea-coast to the northward, two hundred miles, 
and in equal distance to the southward, and from i6:!8. 
sea to sea, west and northwest ;" that is, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, it leaves the question 
of policy, and indeed of right and justice, easily to 
be decided at this day. We may here further ob- 
serve, that inasmuch as these charters of Virginia 
had been all annulled by the judgment of the court 
of king's bench, in the year 1624, (whether right- 
fully or not, could not be questioned but in a legal 
manner, by writ of error or appeal to a superior tri- 
bunal,) all political right of the colonists in Virginia 
to any territory whatever, except to the particular 
tracts which each individual colonist occupied, must 
have been taken a\«By from them by such judgment 
until reversed. It seems, therefore, with regard to 
the colonists in Virginia, in a corporate capacity, to 
have been an act perfectly justifiable in lord Balti- 
more to apply for, as well as lawful for the king to 
grant, all that territory included \vithin the Jines of 
his patent. 

But the most formidable objection raised against 
his grant, seems to have been founded on a circum- 
stance, apparently immaterial to the public, however 
it might interfere with the private rights of some 
individuals. It has been alleged, on a variety of 
occasions, that settlements had been established by 
the Virginians, under the authority of William Clay- 
borne, within the country afterwards denominated 
Maryland, prior to the date of his lordship's charter 
of grant for the same,* and that as it was suggested 
•Jyne 20th, 1632. 

2 I 




250 INTRODUCTION TO A 

pcT. theiTin, that the country was hitherto unsettled^ 
" hactenus inculta^'''' his grant became thereby void. 
1628. But it seems to be extraordinary, that although his- 
tory recognises this objection as being frequently 
made, yet it furnishes no authentic proof of the fact 
on which it is founded. If lord Baltimore's visit to 
Virginia was in the year 1628, as we have supposed 
on the authority of the History' of Virginia, before- 
cited,* there are some established facts in history, 
which seem to indicate very strongly, that at the 
time of h\s visit to Virginia, whatever there were at 
the time of his grant, no such settlements had been 
made. Temporary habitations, for the purposes of 
traffic with the natives, misrht have been .before 
that time erected, both on the isle of Kent and at 
the mouth of the Susquehanna, ^s contended ; but 
these were certainly not such settlements as could 
preclude the right of the crown to grant, or the jus- 
tice and policy of planting in that country a nume- 
rous colony. It may be proper, however, to inves- 
tigate the claim of William Clay borne a little more 
minutely. 
William When king James had caused the charters of 
borne's Virginia to be dissolved by a judgment in the court 
claim. Q^ king's bench, as before-mentioned, and had vest- 
ed the supreme direction of the affairs of Virginia, 
in a provisional council, in England, he afterwards, 
also, as before observed, issued his commission, 
bearing date the 26th day of August, 1624, to Sir 
Francis Wyat, and others, vesting the government 

* " Ancient Records," mentioned in Burk's Hist, of Vir- 
ginia, as before-cited. 



HISTORY OF ^MARYLAND. 2>1 



in Virginia, in a governour and council, who should sec 



IX. 



reside in the colony. Among those so nominated 
of the council, was William Clayborne. From 1^28 
whence we may infer, that he was then, or shortly 
afterwards became a resident in Virginia ; and was 
a man, who by some merit, had attracted the ro}'al 
notice. When king Charles, on the death of his 
father, renewed the commission for the government 
of Virginia, to Sir George Yardley, and others, of 
the 4th of March, 1625, Clayborne was continued 
as one of the council. Moreover, in the same com- 
mission, towards the conclusion thereof, he was ap- 
pointed secretary of state in Virginia, in the follow- 
ing remarkable expressions: " and forasmuch as the 
afiairs of state of the said colony and plantation, may 
necessarily require some person of quality and trusty 
to be employed as secretary, for the writing and an- 
swering of such letters, as shall be from time to 
time directed to, or sent from the said governour 
and council of the colony aforesaid, our mil and 
pleasure is, and we do by these presents, nominate 
and assign you the said William Clayborne, to be 
our secretary of state, of and for the said colony and 
and plantation of Virginia, residing in those parts ; 
giving, and by these presents granting unto you, 
the said William Clayborne, full power and autho- 
rity to do, execute, and perform all and every thing 
and things whatsoever, to the said office of secretary 
of state, of and for the said colony and plantation of 
Virginia, incident and appertaining." By the sub- 
sequent commission to John Harvey, esquire, and 
others, of the 26th of March, 1627, for the govern- 
^ment of Virginia, Clayborne was again continued 




2J2 HS'TRODUCTION TO A 

f^^^SECT. one of the council, and re-appointed secretary of 
^^J^^^^ state, in the same words just cited from the formef 
1628. commission ;* from whence we are enabled to 
collect some ideas of the character and standing of 
this gentleman, who afterwards proved so trouble- 
Some to lord Baltimore and the early settlers of Ma- 
r}iand. As it seems to have been a practice with 
many of the first colonists of Virginia, especially 
those of note and influence, to endeavour to derive 
some emolument to themselves, by carrj-ing on a 
traffic or bartering with the Indian natives, particu- 
larly those inhabiting the shores of the Chesapeake, 
for their peltry, and such other commodities as 
would afford a profit, when sold in the province, or 
exported to Europe, we find that Mr. Clay borne 
was one of those, who availing himself of his sta- 
tion and influence, early sought to better his for- 
tunes in this way.- But it seems, that this species 
of trafiic could not be caiTied on without a special 
licence, either from the king himself or the gover- 
nour of the pro\4nce ; for reasons founded, without 
doubt, in the personal danger of the colonists in ge- 
neral, by too indiscriminate an intercourse with the 
natives, especially in furnishing them with fire-arms, 
and the means of forming conspiracies. Accordingly, 
we find that Clay borne, in the year 163 1, several years 
after lord Baltimore's visit to Virginia, obtained a 
licence, under his majesty's hand and the signet of 
Scotland^ " to trade with the Indians of America, 
in such places where the said trade had not formerly 

* For these several commissions relative to Clayborne, see 
llttzard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 189, 230, 234. 



KISTORY OF MARYLAND. 253 



been granted by his majesty to any other."* On sect 



IX. 



which it may be observed, that it seems somewhat 
extraordinaiy, that Mr. Clayborne should, at that i628. 
late period, have thought it necessary to obtain such 
a hcence, if any settlements had been formed by 
him, at the time of lord Baltimore's visit to Virgi- 
nia, in 1628, either on the isle of Kent, or at the 
mouth of the Susquehanna, as alleged. If no such 
settlements had then, or even indeed prior to the 
licence in 1631, been made; but immediately on 
lord Baltimore's departure, under a full knowledge 
of his lordship's intentions of procuring a grant of 
that country, as may be fairly inferred, Clayborne 
being then, in 1628, the secretary, and of course a 
resident of Virginia, endeavours were made by him, 
under the cover of a licence for trade, to fix settle- 
ments at those places, it must in candour be acknow- 
ledged, that such conduct had much the appearance 
of a fraudulent anticipation, and well merited the 
fate which it afterwards received. 

Another fact, which authorises an inference, that 
no such settlements were formed prior to Clay- 
borne's trafficking licence in 1631, is the petition of 
the planters in Virginia, to the king in council, 
against tlie lord Baltimore's grant, according to the 
recital of it in tlie " order in council," of the 3d of 
July, 1633. The preamble to the order thus states 
the petition : " Whereas an humble petition of the 

* See the recital of this licence in the order in'council upon 
Clayborne's petition. Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 431; 
and towards the end of this volume. The date of the li- 
cence is mentioced in Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 2, p. 40, 
to have Ijeen in 1631. 



254 INTRODUCTION TO A 



•^ECT. planters in Virginia, was presented to his majestVj 



IX. 



in which they remonstrate, that some grants have 
1628. lately been obtained^ of a great proportion of lands 
and territories within the limits of the colony there, 
being the places of their trajpc^ and so near the 
places of their habitations, as will give a general 
disheartening to the planters, if they be divided into 
several governments, and a bar to that trade which 
they have long since exercised towards their siip- 
portation and relief, under the confidence of his ma- 
jesty's royal and gracious intentions towards them, 
as by the said petition more largely appeareth. For- 
asmuch as his majesty was pleased, on the twelfth 
of May last, to refer to the board the consideration 
of this petition," 8cc. &c.* From this statement, 
may be collected some very material facts relative 
to the present question. It is at once observable, 
that not the slightest mention is made therein of 
any settlements established within the territories so 
granted, as complained of ; but that those territories 
had " been the places of their traffic^'' and were 
" near the places of their habitations.'''' Now, had 
there been any settlements actually formed within 
these territories before the time of drafting tliis peti- 
tion, other than temporary settlements for the pur- 
poses of " traffic," it would, without doubt, have 
been so stated in the petition, and dwelt upon as an 
exaggeration of their grievance. But the next ex- 
pression in the same sentence, " near the places of 
their habitations,^'' seems to deny the supposition, 

• See this " order in council" at large, in note (S,) at the 
end of this volume. 




HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 255 

that they had then any habitations^ that is, settle- 
ments^ within these territories so granted, being only 
near them. Not being able to have recourse to the 
petition itself, we are left to infer the date of it, and 
the time referred to in the description of these terri- 
tories, from some of the above expressions. That 
the petition was drawn after the date of lord Balti- 
more's charter, which is June 20th, 1632, may be 
implied from the expression, " grants have lately 
been obtained." That it was before the 12th of 
May, 1633, is to be gathered from the time of its 
reference to the council, " the twelfth of May last." 
It was, therefore, framed some time between the 
20th of June, 1632, and the 12th of May next sue- 
ceeding that date. Taking the mean-time for the ' 
date of this petition, to wit : some time in the lat- 
ter part of the year 16§2,^ about four or five months ^ f ^^ . 
after the date of lord Baltimore's charter, we have a 
period of time, when, as we are informed by this 
petition, there were no actual or permanent settle- 
ments formed within the limits of these territories 
granted to lord Baltimore ; and also, a strong impli- 
cation, that the " places of their traffic" here alluded 
to, were some that Clayborne had fixed up, perhaps 
on the isle of Kent and at the Susquehanna, in vir- 
tue of his royal licence before- mentioned, obtained 
by him in the year 1631. 

It has been deemed necessary, to state the pre- 
ceding circumstances, relative to the objections 
against lord Baltimore's grant, in order to show 
what was the real situation of the country thereby 
granted to him, at the time of his visit to Virginia, 
in the year 1628. From all which, it would seem, 



256 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, that his lordship might have returned to England, 
^^,_^^J^^^ with the intention of soHciting a grant of all that 

1628. country, which he subsequently denominated Mary- 
land, and with a thorough conviction in his own 
mind, that it was^then, in the year 1628, uninhabit- 
ed by any but savages, and with the most perfect 
honesty and integrity of conduct, suggested to the 
king, that the country for which he desired a patent, 
was, as that instrument cxpressess it, " hactenus in- 
culta^'' hitherto unsettled. 

1629. It is probable, that lord Baltimore did not take 
Lord Bai- j^jg departure from Vireinia, until tlie following vear. 

timore re- ' ... i • i 

turns to As fcw of the miuute incidents of this nobleman's 
and rdm'- hic havc rcachcd us, we are not informed whether 
quishes j^ rctumed from thence to his province in New- 

His views ■'■ 

of a set- foundland, or to Eny-land ; it is most probable, to 

tkment ^ -^ . , 

in New. the former. He is said to have made two visits to 
iand. his colony at Ferryland ; and that, in his second visit 
to that place. Great Britain being then at war with 
France, he was so fortunate as to perform some 
considerable services in recovering above twenty 
sail of English ships, which had been taken by a 
French squadron, and in capturing several of the 
enemy's fishing ships on the coast- As this war 
had been commenced by England against France, 
rather suddenly, about April, 1627, without any 
previous proclamation, and indeed without any just 
cause, through the instigation of the unprincipled 
Buckingham, then the sole director of all affairs in 
England, and who was regardless of everything 
but his own interest and pleasures, there is no won- 
der that the vast number of English ships, which 



HISTORY OF MARYLAN-D. 257 

then frequented the coast of Newfoundland,* should sect. 
have been left unprotected, and a prey to the first v^^^^^rx^ 
French force that might be sent against them. How 1629. 
lord Baltimore accomplished the recovery of these 
English ships, or the capture of the French fishing 
vessels, which were most probably unarmed, we are 
not informed. A sort of petit guerre, however, 
seems to have been carried on at this time between 
the English and French, in this part of America. 
The valuable right of fishery on the banks, to which 
the French had never relinquished their pretensions, 
w^as, without doubt, some cause of contest. In this 
year also, (1629,) a successful attack was made by 
a certain David Kertk, a French refugee and Hu- 
gonot, with his two sons, under the English ban- 
ners, and with a considerable English force, upon 
the feeble settlement which the enterprising Cham- 
plain, was then endeavouring to support at Que- 
bec. But, peace being made between the two 
countries, in the early part of this year, though pro- 
bably not known in America until these events had 
past, Quebec and Canada were afterwards restored, 
and the French left to pursue their schemes of set- 
tlements and trade on the St Lawrence, and the 
western shores of Newfoundland. These circum* 
stances, together with the discouraging appearances 

• It appears from Smith's Hist, of Virginia, as cited by 
Mr. Holmes, (in his Annals, Vol. 1, p. 237,) under the year 
1626, that the coast of Newfoundland, for most of the late 
years, was frequented by two hundred and fifty sail of English 
vessels, estimated at fifteen thousand tons, employing five 
thousand persons, and making an annual profit of about one 
hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds sterling. 

2 K 



258 INTRODUCTION TO A 

SECT, of the climate and soil of the country, soon con- 
^.^r-^^-^,^ vinced his lordship, that it would never answer his 
1629. purposes in colonisation. Having found the coun- 
try on the shores of the Chesapeake so much better 
suited to his plans, we may suppose, that in the 
1-53Q succeeding year he returned to England, with the 
intention of exerting his influence at the English 
court, to obtain a grant thereof. 
1632 ^* seems to have been considered by the king and 

Obtains his ministers, about this time, that on the dissolu- 
mfsi'of a tion of the charters of Virginia, as before-mentioned, 
SlT\o^ a right vested in the crown of subdividing or re- 
vince of g-rantinsf such parts of the territories of Virginia 

Maiyland, ^ ° ^ .,.,.„, , 

which is formerly included wuthm the Imes of these char- 
hirderth. ters, as had not before been parcelled out into small 
CeciiLr" ^^^^^ to particular individuals. The king being 
under this impression, and lord Baltimore standing 
high in his personal esteem, the latter found little 
difticulty in procuring from liis majesty, the pro- 
mise of a grant of such a tract of country as his 
lordship then described to him. But before a char- 
ter or patent for that purpose could be finally ad- 
justed, and pass the seals, his lordship died, on the 
15th of April, 1632. He left several sons ; but Ce- 
cilius Calvert being his eldest, and by the laws of 
England, heir not only to his Other's title, but per- 
haps to the bulk of his estate, the charter of grant, 
intended for his father, was, it seems, without hesi- 
tation, on the 20th of June following, executed to 
Cecilius, now become also, baron of Baltimore, in 
the kingdom of Ireland. It was intended, it is said, 
that the country granted by this charter, should 
Iiave been called Crescentia ; but when it was pre- 



HISTORY OF IMARYLAND. 259 

sented to the king for his signature, in conformity, sect. 
to his majesty's wishes, the name of the province ^..^rv-v^ 
was changed to that of Maryland, in honour of his 1632. 
queen, Henrietta Maria, a daughter of the great king 
Henry IV, of France. 



POSTSCRIPT. 

ALTHOUGH the lord Baltimore's charter, ought with 
propriety, to be here inserted, yet, as it would occupy a very 
large portion of this volume, and recourse can easily be had^ 
by most of our readers, to the publication of it in several com- 
pilations of the laws of Maryland, and also in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 327, it is hoped the reader will excuse the 
-omission of it. r^ /y? ^/pf— 



SKETCH 



n1 ' 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 



DURING THE THREE FIRST YBARSj, 



AFTER IT'S 



0RIG1N.U. SETTLEIVIENT. 



HISTORY OF MARYLxVND. 



CHAPTER I. 



Cecilius, lord Baltimore, prepares for sending- out a colony — The Vir- 
ginians petition against his charter — Their petition ineffectual, and 
the planters reconciled — Lord Baltimore appoints his brother to 
conduct the colony — Their arrival in the Chesapeake — They explore 
the Patowmack — The governour fixes upon St. Mary's for their 
first settlement — Circumstances favourable to them — Proceedings 
of the colonists after landing — Great harmony between the natives 
and colonists — Interrupted by Clayborne and his party — Clay- 
borne resorts to open military force — The lord proprietor's in- 
structions relative to grants of lands — Grants of small lots in the 
town of St. Mary's — The nature of tiie first form of government 
of the colony — An ordinance for that purpose — Proclamation in 
England against emigration — Traffic with the Indians regulated in 
tlie province — The isle of Kent reduced to lord Baltimore's go- 
vernment — The county of St. Mary's organized — An assembly of 
the province called — ^The first assembly of the province meet — The 
assembly take into consideration the laws sent in by the proprie- 
tor — The laws sent i-ejected — How far the laws of England were 
deemed to be in force — ^The laws sent in by the proprietor again 
proposed andrejected — Courts of justice meet — Proceedings thej-e- 
in against Clayborne's party — The inhabitants of the isle of Kent 
refuse to submit — Governour Calvert proceeds with a military 
force against them — Secretary Lewger authorised to hold the as- 
sembly — Act of attainder against William Clayborne — Trial of 
Thomas Smith, one of Clayborne's men — Inquiry by the assembly 
into the conduct of captain Cornwallis — Resolution of the assem- 
bly relative to servants — Tlie assembly dissolved — Tlie lord pro- 
prietor refuses his assent to the laws enacted by the assembly — 
William Clayborne's petition to the king m council, and order 
thereupou. 



2JM. HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

^"jAP- CECILIUS CALVERT, baron of Balti- 

>^-v>*,^ more, having, on the twentieth of June, 1632, ob- 

1632. tained his charter for the province of Maryland, as 
lord Balti- beforc-mentioned, had now to make preparations for 
pare? For' Carrying into effect his father's intended plan of co- 
sending lonisation. The procuring: a sufficient number of 

out a. CO- _ . . 

tony. colonists, and the furnishing them with all conve- 
niences and necessaries essential to a residence in 
a remote country, which was as yet a wilderness, 
unavoidably protracted the time of their depai'ture 
from England to some considerable length. 

In the mean-time, however, much discontent was 
industriously excited among the planters in Virgi- 
nia, by inducing them to suppose, that the very 
soil upon which they trod, and which they had 
earned by their fatigues and dangers, was about to 
be taken from under their feet, and by this charter 

1633. transfeiTed to others. A petition therefore was fra- 
med in the name of the planters, and in May, 1633, 

a'^ainsthis P'"^sented to his majesty, in which they remonstrate, 
charter. " That somc grants have been lately obtained, of a 
great proportion of lands and territories within the 
limits of the colony there, being the places of theu' 
traffic, and so near their habitations as will give a 
general disheartening to the planters, if they be di- 
vided into several governments, and a bar to that 
trade which they have long since exercised towards 
their supportation and relief, under the confidence 
of his majesty's royal and gracious intentions towards 
them." The king referred the consideration of this 
petition to the consideration of his privy-council, 



The Vir 
ginians 



HISTORY OF MARYLANIX 265 

aad agreeably to this reference the council, on the chap, 
fourth of June, in the same year, made an order, in v.^,-v->^ 
which they appointed the twenty-eighth of that i-633. 
month, when the business should be heard, and that 
all parties interested should then attend. This was 
done accordingly, and their lordships having heard 
the cause, ordered that the lord Baltimore and the 
planters of Virginia should meet together* between 
that time and the third of July, 1633, and endea- 
vour to accommodate their controversy in a friendly 
manner. Also, that the propositions made by either 
party should be set down in writing, with their se- 
veral answers and reasons, to be presented to the 
board on that day. This was likewise accordingly 
done, and on the third of July, same year, it was 
finally ordered, " that the lord Baltimore should be 
left to his patent, and the other parties to the course 
of law, according to their desire ; but for preventing 
of farther questions and differences, their lordships 
did also think fit and order, that things stand as they 
do ; the planters on either side shall have free traf. 
fie and commerce each with the other, and that nei- 
ther part shall receive any fugitive person belonging 
to the other, nor do any act which may draw a war 
from the natives upon either of them ; and lastly, 
that they shall sincerely entertain all good correspond 
dence, and assist each other upon all occasions, in 
such manner as becometh fellow-subjects and mem- 
bers of the same state, "f 

* This must have meant, that the planters, by their agents 
or attorneys in England, should meet the lord Baltimore. 

t See this order in council at large, in note (S) at the enjd 
of this volume. 

2 L 




HeiQ^ HISTORY OF MAllYLANi). 

As we ai'e at liberty at this day to judge of this 
transaction calmly and dispassionately, it is impos- 
i63o. sible not to perceive, that the planters in Virginia 
(by whom it may be supposed to be meant in the 
above order the actual settlers and colonists resident 
in Virginia, and not any of the numerous members 
of the old Virginia Company) were instigated to 
this opposition to lord Baltimore's charter by a few 
influential persons among them, (particularly WiF- 
Ham Clayborne) who sought to obtain a property in 
different portions of the temtories of Virginia, with- 
out putting themselves to the trouble or expense of 
obtaining a legal conveyance or charter for the same. 
Unquestionably by the laws of England, under 
which they professed to live, the right of granting 
a property in the soil of the country, was originally, 
after its discovery by Cabot, vested in the king, and 
subsequently in the treasurer and Company of Vir- 
ginia, under the second and third charters from the 
king. But as the right of making grants of the 
same, heretofore appertaining to the Company, was 
taken away by the judgment in the court of king's 
bench, under the g~uo ivarraiito, which judgment 
was certainly binding, until legally reversed, such 
right, by the laws of the kingdom, reverted back 
again to the king, according to the feudal principles 
of the nionarchy. Tlie planters in Virginia, then, 
had really no interest in the question. None of their 
individual rights or particular plantiitions, on which 
they lived, were at all invaded. We may, indeed, 
adopt the observations of a late historian of Virgi- 
nia upon this subject; — '' This grant to lord Balti- 
more did not interfere with the rights of former set- 




HISTORY OF MARYlAXD. 26S 

tiers, or ^vith the government of Virginia. His 
object was the establishment of a new colony, 
which would be her friend and neighbour and ally, i^- ■• 
against the assaults of the Indians or the machina- 
tions of distant poM'ers. The prosperity and repu- 
tation of the nation would be advanced by new set- 
tlements ; and an immense territory was yet reser- 
ved to Virginia, far exceeding her wants and her 
powers. In every point of view the transfer appeais 
judicious and salut^iry."* It must be acknowledged, 
however, that these observations of this historian 
are rather inconsistent with his ill-timed invective in 
the same page against king Charles and his council, 
principally on account of this grant. It does not 
appear from the order in council before-cited, that 
** they acknowledged the justice of the claim of the 
planters," as he alleges. The doubtful claim could 
be only between the king and those persons, whose 
names, as inserted in the second charter, form a 
very large list of the nobility and gentry of England, 
to whom the territories of Virginia then in truth 
belonged,t if they did not to the crown. 

Notwithstanding their failure of success in their Their pe- 

, • ir- • • 111 1 titioniiuifr 

petition, the planter-s in Virginia, probably on bet-fectuai, 
ter information, soon became reconciled, as we^j^^^^^j^g 
ai-e told, to the lord Baltimore's grant, and left the J'^^^^^*^'" 
individuals, whose immediate interest it was, to 



• Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 2, p. 39. 

t They had expended more than 100,000/. sterling of their 
own estates, in the support of the colony in Virginia, at the 
time of the dissolution of the charters. Holmes's Anna|s, 
Vol. J, p. 233. 



the colo- 
ny 



f eg HISTORY OF MARYLANt), 

CHAP, persist ill their own measures, in any further contest 
^^^^^^.^^.^^ against his right. 

1633. His lordship being now invested, as he supposed, 
Lord Bai- ^^,j^|.j ^ f^jj. ^i^jg ^Q j^jg province, and having nearly 

timore ap- ^ . 

points his completed the necessary preparations for the emi- 

broiherto ^ , . ^ j ^ n ^ 4. 

conduct gration of the colonists, contemplated at tirst to 
' have attended them himself in person ; but after- 

wards changing his mind, from what cause we are 
not informed, he appointed his brother, Leonai^d 
Calvert, esq., to go in his stead, in the character of 
govemour,* and joined in commission with him 
Jeremy Hawley and Thomas Cornwallis, esqrs., as 
assistants or counsellors.! George Calvert, esq., 
another brother, also came with them, but in what 
capacity is not mentioned. The number of colo- 
nists consisted of about two hundred, of whom the 
names of the chief or principal characters are men- 
tioned in history, as follows, Richard Gerard, Ed- 

• In most of the early public acts of the province, he is 
commonly styled " his lordship's lieutenant-general," &c., but 
as the term gover?iour is a word of the same import, and 
sometimes used in some of the old records of the province, 
and is of more modern usage, and therefore more intelligible, 
it is here adopted. The term lieutenant-general, as thus 
used in the early colonisation of the province, was probably 
adopted from that applied to the king's viceroy or governour 
of Ireland, who was at this time so termed. 

t This commission, it seems, is not extant among any of the 
records of the province. Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, p. 
64. The term assifitant seems to have been in use about this 
time, as synonymous to that of counsellor. It appears to 
have been so used in Massachusetts, on the first settlement of 
New Plymouth. See the Extracts from the New PlymouUi 
Records, published in Hazard's Collections, Vol, 1, p. 411. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 269 

ward Winter, Frederick Winter, and Henry Wise- chap. 
man, esqrs.; Mr. John Saunders, Mr. Edward ^^^,,;,^^ 
Cranfield, Mr, Henry Green, Mr. Nicholas Fairfax, i633 
Mr. John Baxter, Mr. Thomas Dorrel, captain John 
Hill, Mr. John Medcalfe, and Mr. William Saire. 
Many of these arc said to have been gentlemen of 
fortune, and most of the adventurers, if not all of 
them, were Roman Catholics. 

They sailed from Covves, in the Isle of Wight, 1634. 
on the 22d of November, 1633, and taking the old jy^|;.f;,.f ' 
route by the Azores and West Indies, stopped on fiom Eng- 

•' _ * land, and 

the islands of St. Christopher's and Barbadoes, arrival in 
where they staid some time, most probably for the sapea-ke, 
purpose of timing their arrival in the Chesapeake in 
the most favourable season of the year for colonisa- 
tion in that climate. It was, therefore, the 24th of 
February following, (1634, new style,) when tlijey 
arrived off Point Comfort, in Virginia. Here, in 
consequence of recommendatory letters from the 
king, they met with all possible assistance from iht 
governour of Virginia ; and on the third of March, 
proceeded from thence to Patowmack river. Go- 
vernour Calvert, not being apprised, perhaps, of any 
former names appropriated to the two capes or 
points of land at the mouth of the Patowmack river, 
called the south point St. Gregory's, and the north 
point St. Michael's ; but, as they are both now 
known by other appellations, the southern being 
called Smith's point, from the celebrated foinider of 
Virginia, captain John Smith, and the northern, 
Point Look-out, it is probable that they had received 



2Tty HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, these denominations before the arrival of the Mar)'- 
,,^,r>^^^,^ land colony.* 

1634. Sailing up the Patowmack about fourteen leagues, 
They ex- ^^ came to an island called Heron island, and an- 

plore the •' 

Faiow- chored under another neia^hbourinsr isle, to which 

muck. 

they gave the name of 6"^. Clements\-\ Here thegov- 
ernour landed, and setting up a cross, in the Roman 
Catholic manner J, took formal possession of the 
country — " for our Saviour, and for our sovereign 
lord the king of England." In order to make dis- 
coveries, the governour here left his ships, and tak- 
ing two boats, or pinnaces as they were then called, 
proceeded up the Patowmack about four leagues, 

• The charter refers to a place called Cinquack, " situate 
rear the mouth of the Patowmack," on the south side thereof; 
but I do not find tliis name mentioned in the modern maps of 
either Virginia or Maryland. From the description of it in 
the charter, it would appear to be the same as Smith's Point. 

t These names do not appear in either Griffith's map of 
Maryland, or Madiso?i's of Virginia, the two most modern. 
In Griffith's map an island is placed off Clement*s branch or 
river, which empties into the Patowmack, and which is there 
called Blaekstone's island ; but in Madison's map, Blackstone's 
island is placed higher up the Patowmack. It is most proba- 
ble, however, that the island opposite to the mouth of Cle- 
ment's branch, is the island to which at this time, they affixed 
the name of St. Clement's. In a loose estimation, it will 
nearly answer the distance mentioned up the Patowmack ; 
sfourteen leagues, or forty-two miles. 

\ It may be mentioned, by way of counterpart to this, that 
in this same year, (1634,) the New Englanders at Massachu- 
setts, had carried their fanaticism to such a ridiculous ex- 
treme, that they cut the cross out of the king's colours undei* 
which they mustered, as being a relique of anti-Christian su- 
perstition. Hutchinson's Hist, Vol. 1, p. 41. Robertson's 
Hist, of America, Vol. 4, p. 295^ 296, 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 27 i 

and landed on the south or Virginia side of the cha/P 
river, but found that the Indians had fled from them ,^^^'^^^ 
through fear. He thence still proceeded up the ri- 1634. 
ver about nine leagues, and came to an Indian town 
called Patowmack town;* where the chief, called 
the IFerowance,-\ being an infant, the territory was 
governed hi his minority, by his uncle, whose name 
was Archihan. By him they w^ere received in a 
very friendly manner. From this town they sailed up 
the Patowmack a considerable distance, estimated 
by them at about twenty leagues, to Piscataway ; 
where they found many Indians assembled, and 
among them an Englishman, captain Henry Fleet, 
who had lived there several years, in great esteem 
with the natives. Through the influence of captain 
Fleet, the Werowance or chief of the tribe there as- 
sembled, was prevailed upon to go on board the 
governour's pinnace. The governour asked him, 
whether he was willing, that he and his people 

• The histoi'ians from whom this account is taken, do not 
say on which side of the Patowmack this town was ; whether 
in Virginia or Maryland. If in the latter, it was, most pro- 
bably, situated somewhere near Cedar point, or Pickawaxen 
creek, in Charles county. 

t The word IVeroivance, seems to have been in use also with 
the Indian tribes of Virginia. The emperor Powhatan is re- 
presented as applying the appellation of Werowance to him- 
self See Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 117, 137. It 
appears to have signified among the Indians — the king, or 
chief, or head-man of the tribe or nation. The infancy of 
this Werowance, above-mentioned, seems to disprove what is 
alleged by some writers, that among the American Indians, 
Tnonarchy is always elective. See Mr. Charles Thompson's 
no.te (5,j to Jefferson's Notes. Appendix. 




273 HISTORY OF MARYLAiSTD. 

should settle in his country, in case they found 3 
place convenient for them. ' The Werowance re- 
1634. plied, " I will not bid you go, neither will I bid you 
stay, but you may use your own discretion." The 
Indians on shore, finding that the Werowance staid 
on board longer than they expected, crowded down 
to the water- side, to look after him, fearing that the 
English had killed him ; and they were not satisfied 
till he showed himself, to appease them. 

The governour, on reflection, thinking that it 
Would not, perhaps, be so advisable to settle so high 
up the river, in the infancy of the colony : and in- 
fluenced somewhat, probably, by the cautious an- 
swer of the Werowance, determined to seek for a 
settlement further down the river. He, therefore, 
returned down the Patowmack, to St. Clement's 
isle again, taking captain Fleet with him. They 
then proceeded to a small river on the north side of 
the Patowmack, within four or five leagues of its 
mouth, which the governour called St. George's 
river. Sailing up this small river about four leagues, 
they came to an Indian town, called by the natives 
Yoamaco^* from whence die tribe here inhabiting, 
were called Yoamacoes. 

The reader will recollect, that it has been before 
mentioned, that Powhatan's territories, over which 
he was emperor or grand chief, was said to extend 
along the lowlands upon the Chesapeal^e, from Cape 

* This town is by some, (See Kilty's Landholder's Assist- 
ant, p. 14, called Yaocomico : but 1 find the name spelt as 
above, in the histories, from whence what is here related is 
taken. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 273 

Henry to the mouth of the Patuxent, in Maryland ; chap. 
and that his empire consisted of at least forty differ- v.,^-v^^^ 
ent tribes.* As governour Calvert, in his present 1634. 
exploration of the Patowmack, found, it seems, se- 
voral distinct independent chiefs, called Werow- 
ances, it is probable, that they were the chiefs of as 
many distinct tribes, who formerly composed a part 
of that grand confederacy, which had existed under 
Powhatan ; called, from him. The Powhatan Con- 
federacy, in contra-distinction to the two other grand 
confederacies, denominated the Manahoacs and the 
Monacans. But, ?.s Powhatan had now been dead 
some years, it does not appear clearly, whether his 
successor was, at the time of the arrival of our co- 
lonists, the grand chief or emperor of the whole of 
the former Powhatan confederacy, or whether the 
Yoamacoes considered themselves as belonging to 
that confederacy, and subject to Opitchapan, who 
was Powhatan's successor. 

The governour, having landed here, entered into The go- 
a conference or treaty with the Werowance, and fi^g^^Jp^,^ 
acquainted him with the cause of his coming ; to ^*; '^^^}y 
which the Indian said little, probably not wishing first set- 

, , , . . tlement. 

to encourage a settlement among them ; but, invit- 
ing him to his cabin, he entertained him as kindly 
as he could, and at night gave him his own bed to 
lie on. The next day he showed him the country; 
and the governour, determining to make the first 
settlement here, sent orders to the ship and boats to 

* See Mr. Charles Thompson's note (5,) in the Appendix 
to Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. Also, Burk's Hist, of Vir- 
ginia, Vol. l,p. 112. 

2 M 



274> HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, come to him. To pave the way to his peaceable 
^^^--v-y^^ admission into the country, he presented the We- 
1634. ro^v ance, and principal men of the town, with some 
English cloth, axes, hoes, and knives, which they 
accepted with pleasure, and freely consented that 
he and his company should dwell in one part of their 
town, reserving the other for themselves. Those 
Indians who inhabited that part which was assigned 
to the English, readily abandoned their huts to them. 
The natives further agreed to leave the whole town 
to the English, as soon as they could gather their 
corn ; which they faithfully performed : and it was 
further stipulated, that until that time, die two na- 
tions should live in a friendly manner together. If 
any injury was done on either part, the nation 
offending was to make satisfaction. The gover- 
nour then, on the 27th of March, 1634, caused the 
colonists to land, and according to the agreement, 
take possession of the town, which they named St. 
Marifs. 
circum- ^ circumstance is mentioned to have occurred at 
stances fa. ^j^-g x\xn&. whlch vcry much facilitated this treaty 
tothtm. with the Indians. The Susquehanocks, \\ho lived 
about the head of the bay, were in the practice of 
making incursions on their neighbours, partly for 
dominion, and partly for booty ; of which last, wo- 
men were most desired by them. The Yoamacoes, 
fearing these Susquehanocks, had, a year before the 
Maryland colony arrived, resolved to desert their 
habitations, and remove higher into the countr}^ 
Many of them were actually gone, and the rest 
were prepai'ing to follow them, about tiie time when 



HISTOnV OF MARYLAND. 275 

the English arrived : so that the vohmtary surrender chap. 
of their town is easily accounted for. vwv^^ 

The first thing the governour caused to be done 1634. 
after the colonists were landed, was to erect two intrs'^'o'f 
buildings, one for a guard-house, i^id the other for^^J^^' ^'^^j. 
a store-house. Some of the colonists he also set to^^"*^'"^- 
work, in making preparations for the planting of 
corn. In a few days afterwards, the governour re- 
ceived a friendly visit from Sir John Harvey, then 
governour of Virginia. From this circumstance it 
may be inferred, that however unfavourably the his- 
torians of Virginia may have represented the cha- 
racter of this governour, he did not enter into the 
opposition which had been excited in that province 
against lord Baltimore's charter, and the settlement 
ofthe Maryland colony. We are not informed of any 
material incidents relative to his visit. W^hilC he re- 
mained there, governour Calvert received also, the 
visits of several Indian Werowances, from the inte- 
rior parts of the country ; among others, came the 
king of Patuxent, who had formerly been a pri^ 
soner to the English, in Virginia, To please these 
Indians, the government made an entertainment on 
board of the ship then at anchor in the river : the 
king of Patuxent was placed at the table, in a kind 
of state, between the governour of Virginia and the 
governour of Maryland. But, an incident occurred, 
which threatened to destroy the pleasure of the feast : 
a Patuxent Indian coming on board, and seeing his 
king thus seated, staited back, and refused to enter 
into the cabin, supposing that his king was confined 
there as a captive; and would have leaped overboard, 



276 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, had not the king himself come and satisfied him, 
s^^^-^J-^^^ that he was in no danger. 
1634. The store-house being finished, and it becoming 
necessary to unload the ship, and bring the stores 
for the colony on shore, the governour, thinking 
that doing it with a little pomp and state would im- 
press the natives with respect for the colonists, or- 
dered it to be done with as much solemnity as they 
could. The colours were brought on shore, and 
the colonists were all paraded under arms. VoUies 
of musquetry were fired, which were answered by 
discharges of cannon on board the ship. The two 
kings or Werowances of Patuxent and Yoamaco, 
being both present at this exhibition, with many 
other Indians of Yoamaco, the former took that oc- 
sion to advise the Indians of Yoamaco to be careful 
to keep the league they had made with the English. 
He remained in the town several days afterwards ; and 
it is said, that when he took his leave, he made this 
remarkable speech to the governour : " I love the 
English so well, that if they should go about to kill 
me, if I had so much breath as to speak, I would 
command the people not to revenge my death ; for 
I know they would not do such a thing, except it 
were through my own fault."* 
Great har- During the remainder of the year, while the Eng- 
twTJn the lish and Indians lived in St. Mary's together, ac- 
and^ojio- cording to their stipulation, the utmost harmony 
nists. appears to have prevailed among them. The natives 
went every day, to hunt with the " new comers," 

* Oldmixon's British Empire in America, Vol. 1, p. 104j 
188. Mod. Univ. ?Iist. Vol. 40, p. 467. 




HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 277 

for deer and turkies ; which, when they had caught, 
being more expert at it, they either gave to the 
EngUsh, or sold for knives, beads, and such trifles. i(>^'^ 
They also suppHed them with fish in plenty. As a 
certain mark of the entire confidence, which these 
unsuspecting people placed in the colonists, their 
women and children became, in some measure, do- 
mesticated in the English families. 

We have here to express a regret, that the loss 
of most of the early records of the province, in 
about ten years after this period, during the civil 
commotions which agitated the mother country, and 
had extended to the colonies, has irreparably de- 
prived us of other interesting particulars of the first 
transactions of the Maryland colony.* 

The arrival of the colony in the early part of the 
year, was attended with such fortunate circum- 
stances, that we cannot but suppose, that it was in- 
tentionally so done, in order to have time to erect 
habitations against the succeeding winter, and to 
raise sufficient corn for their next year's subsist- 
ence. It seems, however, that they had taken the 
precaution to bring along with them from Barba- 
does, an additional supply of Indian corn, beyond 
the flour and bread of their English stores. They 
had, very judiciously, preconcerted their departure 
from England, so as to pass the winter months in 
the West Indies, and by that means to arrive in the 
colder latitude of the Chesapeake at the commence- 

* Captain Richard Ingle, who associated with captain Clay- 
borne, seized the records of the province in 1644, and carried 
them to Virginia. Most of them were lost or embezzled. 
See Bacon's preface to his edition of the Laws of Maryland. 



278 HftTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, ment of the vernal season. They availed themselves 
y^^^,~^r^^^ of this advantage, by planting Indian corn at the 
1634. proper time of the year, in the grounds bordering 
on the town, which had been already cleared by the 
Indians. Their crops proved so luxuriant, that in 
the next year, or in the year after, it is said they 
► exported ten thousand bushels of Indian corn to 

New England, to purchase salt fish and other pro- 
visions.* 
Inter- From concun'ent circumstances, and indeed from 

Suyborne ^^^ asscrtions of historiaus, we are induced to sup- 
and his pose, that amonQf the first causes which tended to 

party. r ' O 

disturb this harmony between the English and na- 
tives, were the improper insinuations circulated 
among the latter by captain William Clay borne and 
his party. They most unjustly and falsely endea- 
voured to create a belief among the Indians, that 
the Maryland colonists were Spaniards, and enemies 
of the English in Virginia ; probably availing them- 
selves, in proof thereof, of the similitude in their 
religious ceremonies. Clayborne had, it seems, 
prior to the arrival of governour Calvert and his 
colony, settled himself, with some others, on the 
isle of Kent, which is situated in the Chesapeake, 
higher up than St. Mary's, and within the lines of 
the lord Baltimore's charter. This he had done in 
virtue of his license to traffic with the natives, and 
thereupon claimed a right to the property of the 
soil, not only of this island, but of another settle* 
ment which he had also fixed at the mouth of the 
Susquehanna. Lord Baltimore, perhaps apprized 

•Oldniixon's British Empire, Vol. 1, p, 18. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 279 

of these circumstances before the emigration of his chap. 
colony, had given orders, that if Clayborne would ^,^„,-^!.>^ 
not submit to his government, he should be seized i634. 
and punished.* He was not, however, taken ; but 
being provoked that the lord Baltimore had obtain- 
ed a grant, which included these places to which he 
had been accustomed to trade, and where he had 
now made some settlements, he sought all the 
means in his power to defeat the success and pros- 
perity of the colony at St. Mary's. Among those 
means, was this ungenerous and cruel attempt to 
set the savages at war upon this infant colony. This 
ridiculous suggestion was at first believed by the 
simple natives, and suddenly they withdrew their 
company from St. Mary's. Our colonists were then 
employed in erecting comfortable habitations for 
themselves, in and about the town ; but, alarmed at 
this alteration in the behaviour of the Indians, they 
ceased from the work on their buildings, and be- 
took themselves to the erection of a fort for their 
security ; which, it is said, they accomplished in 
about six weeks, and then returned again to their 
employments in finishing their houses. In a short 
time, however, the Indians became sensible of this 
deception, and resorted again, as formerly, to the 
colony, t 

* The 12th and 13th sections of the charter, seem to have j 
authorised the exercise of martial law in such cases. ' 

t Oldmixon's British Empire, Vol. l,p. 188, 189. Mod. 
Univ. Hist. Vol. 40, p. 468. About this time, a commission 
was issued by the king, to archbishop Laud, and divers other 
lords spiritual and temporal, (therein named,) vesting in them 
powers of government over all the English colonies already 



280 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP. Clayborne, however, was not content with this 

y^^^^Jr-y^^ secret mode of annoying the colony. He resorted 

1634. to open mihtary force in his opposition to lord Bal- 

reSits To timore's government. Early in the year 1635, he 

open miii- gnranted his special warrant or commission, under 

tarv force. « 1 

his hand, to a certain RatclifFe Warren, then com- 
monly known as lieutenant Wan-en, to seize and 
capture any of the pinnaces or other vessels belong- 
ing to the government or colonists at St. Mary's; 
and in pursuance thereof an armed pinnace or boat 
belonging to Clayborne, was fitted out for that pur- 
pose, manned with about fourteen men, among 
whom was a certain Thomas Smith, gentleman, who 
appears to have been second in command, next to 
Warren, on this expedition. The government at 
St. Mary's, probably apprized of these measures of 
Clayborne, immediately equipped also two armed 
pinnaces or boats, which sailed under the command 
of Thomas Cornwallis, esq., one of the assistants 
or commissioners before-mentioned. These two 
armaments met, it seems, some time in April or 

planted or to be planted, not only in political, but in eccle- 
siastical matters. It seems to have been styled in common 
parlance, The Board of Lords Commissioners for Foreign 
Plantations, See it in the original Latin, in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 345, and in English in Hutchinson's Hist, 
of Massachusetts, Vol. 1, appendix. No. IV.; but these two 
copies vary in the names of one or two of the commissioners, 
and somewhat also in the date of it. It does not appear to 
have ever had any operation with respect to the Maryland co- 
lony, and was probably intended more particularly against 
that of Massachusetts ; but the approach of the civil wars in 
England, shortly afterwards, must soon have rendered it a 
dead letter, even as to that province. 



HISTORY OF MAHYLANn, 281 

May of this year, 1635, in either the Pocomoke chap. 
or Wighcomoco rivers on the eastern shore of the v.^-><^^^ 
province,* where a battle commenced between them, i'J35. , 
by Clayborne's men firing first on Cornwallis's 
boats, as alleged in the proceedings of the assem- 
bly in this case.f Cornwallis immediately returned 
the fire ; and the result was, that lieutenant Warren 
and two of his men were killed, and one of Corn- 
wallis's men. Clayborne's boat and men, it would 
seem, were taken; and as Thomas Smith, gentle- 
man, was probably the next in command or princi- 
pal person, after the death of Warren, he was' after- 
wards tried for the offence by the assembly, as will 
presently be further noticed.^ Clay borne, before 

* There were two indictments found before a county court, \ 
held at St. Mary's on the 12th of February, 1637, (old style), ' 
\ipon which Thomas Smith and others of Clayborne's men, 
appear to have been arraigned and tried by the assembly. In 
one of which indictments the offence is stated to have been 
committed " in the river Pocomoque, on theeastei'n shore, on 
the 23d of April, in the year 1635.'* In the other indictment, 
tlie offence is laid or stated to have been committed " in the 
harbour of great Wiggomoco, in the bay of Chesapeake, on 
the 10th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1635 ." Whether 
they were two distinct engagements between the two parties 
does not appear certain. The murder of William Ashmore, 
one of Cornwallis's men, seems to be the gist of the of- 
fence in both indictments. From which it might be inferred, 
that there was only one battle ; and Clayborne, in his subse- 
quent petition to his majesty, mentions but one engagement. 

t It is proper to mention here, that Clayborne, in his peti- 
tion, alleged that Cornwallis and his men fired first on his 
boat, and that they had taken his pinnaces and boats, and still 
detained them. See his petition hereafter-cited. 

\ Provincial Records, entitled " Council Proceedings from 
1636 to 1644." 

2 N 



The lord 
proprie- 
tor's in- 
structions 



282 HISTORY OP MARYLAXD. 

CHAP, this, had fled for refuge to Virginia, and commis- 
\^^ry^^ sioners were sent by the governour of Mar}'land to 

1635. the governour of Virginia (Hervcy) to reclaim him. 
as a criminal against the laws of Mar}^land; but 
Hervey thought it proper to send Ciayborne, with 
the witnesses, to England.* 

1636. In this situation of constant danger from the sa- 
vages, and actual warfere with their own country- 
men, it could not be expected that the colonists had 

relative to 33 yet, in a little more than a year from their first 

CT-ants of '^ •' .... 

lands. landing, extended their settlements to begni their 
small town at St. Mary's. The lord proprietor, how- 
ever, had not forgotten to make arrangements for a 
more dispersed occupation of the country. There 
is strong evidence to presume that written proposi- 
tions or conditions, upon which the colonists were to 
emigrate, had been " propounded" to them, before 
their departure from England ; but as these are not 
now to be found among the records of the province, 
it is probable that the instrument of writing contain- 
ing them was either among those lost or embezzled 
by Ingle and Ciayborne, as before-mentioned, or it 
was never placed on record. Be that as it may, his 
lordship, in tlie year 1636, considered it proper to 
send to his brother, the governour, or as he is there- 
in styled, " his lieutenant-general of the province 
of Maryland," " Instructions," relative to grants of 
land, to be made to the several colonists or " adven- 
turers," as they are therein termed, " for the plant- 
ing of his province of Maryland." As this instru- 



f Burk's Hist, of Virginia, Vol. 2. p. 40. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 283 

merit of writing* contains the outlines of his lord- chap. 
ship's plan for parcelling out the lands of his pro- y^^^v^^ 
vince, in pursuance of his charter, and therein de- i^se 
velopes the mode of colonisation subsequently pur- 
sued by him, it will be proper here to state the sub- 
stance of it in as concise a manner as it will admit. 
After referring in the preamble to former agree- 
ments heretofore propounded and promised by him, 
for the grants of land to the adventurers, he autho- 
rises his brother and lieutenant-general, or any 
other his lieutenant-general there for the time being, 
to " cause to be made under the great seal of the 
province, unto every frst adventurer for every five 
men, aged between sixteen and fifty years, which 
such adventurer did bring into our said province, to 
inherit and plant there, in the year 1633,t and un- Howknds 

^ were to be 

to his heirs forever, a errant of two thousand acres granted to 
of land of English measure, for the yearly rent of advemu- 
400 lb. of good wheat, and to every adventurer '^''^l^^. 
which in that year did bring a less number than five 
men into the said province, of the ages aforesaid to 
inhabit and plant there, and unto his heirs forever, 
a grant of one hundred acres of land of like mea- 
sure for himself, and one hundred acres more for his 
wife, (if he brought any,) and for ever}^ servant, 

* It is by some called, " conditions of plantation ;" and si- 
milar documents, to be found among the records, issued from 
time to time, have been generally so denominated ; but " in- 
structions" is the appellation given them on this occasion in 
the Provincial Records; see " Council Proceedings from 
1636 to 1657." 

t The first colonists left England, on the 22d of Novem- 
ber, 1633. 



284 HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 

CHAP, and fifty jrcrcs for every child under the age of six- 
y.^iT'J'^s^ teen years, for the rent of 10 lb. of wheat yearly for 

1636. every fifty acres. 
How to " And to eveiy other adventurer, which hath ad- 
tureiVor ventured to transport men into our province, of the 
1655 ""'^ age aforesaid, in the years 1634 and 1635, for every 
ten men which such adventurer did bring into our 
said province, in either of the said years, and to his 
heirs, forever, a grant of two thousand acres of 
land of the like measure, for the yearly rent of 600 
lb. of good wheat, and to every other adventurer, 
%\ hich in either of the said years, did bring a less 
number than ten men as aforesaid, and to his Heirs, 
forever, a grant of one hundred acres of land (of 
like measure) for himself, and one hundi'ed acres 
for his wife, (if he brought any,) and for every ser- 
vant one hundred acres, and for every child under 
the age of sixteen years fifty acres, for the yearly 
rent of 10 lb. weight of wheat for every fifty acres. 
How to all " And to every other adventurer, which hath ad- 
ter The ^ ventured to plant and transport any men into our 
year 1635. gjjj^j proviucc, siucc the year 1635, or which at any 
time hereafter, shall transport any men of the age 
aforesaid, to inhabit and plant there until some other 
or further conditions of plantation, shall by us be 
propounded and jmblished to adventurers, and an 
authentic copy of such conditions, by us signed and 
transmitted into our said . province, for every five 
men which he or they shall so transport thither, and 
to his or her heirs, forever, a grant of one thousand 
acres of English measure, for the yearly rent of 
twenty shillings, to be paid in the commodities of 
the country, for every such thousand acres ; and to 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. ^85 

every other adventurer, which within the time next chap. 
afore-mentioned, hath or shall transport any number v^,^>^ 
of persons less than five, a grant of one hundred 1636. 
acres of land for him or herself, and one hundred 
more for his wife, (if he brought any,) and as much 
for every man-servant, and fifty acres more for every 
child under the age of sixteen years ; and for every 
maid- servant under the age of forty years, to his or 
her heirs, forever, for the yearly rent of twelve 
pence, for every fifty acres. 

"And we do further authorise you, that every Manors of 
two thousand acres, and every three thousand acres, 3'yo'o 
and every one thousand acres of land so to be grant- J^^'cre.^'* 
ed, unto any adventurer or adventurers, be erected ^ted. 
and created into a mannor, to be called by such 
name as the adventurer or adventurers shall de- 
sire. 

" And we do further authorise you, that you courts-- 
cause to be granted unto every of the said adventu- courS- 
rers, v, ithin every of their said mannors respectively, ^^°"' 
and to his or their heirs, a court-baron and court- 
leet, to be from time to time held within every such 
mannor respectively. And to the end you may the 
better be informed, in what manner to pass every 
such grant, court and courts as aforesaid, according 
to our intention, we have sentunto you, under our 
hand and seal, a draught of a grant of a mannor 
court-leet and court-baron, and a grant of a fi-ee- ■ 
hold ; which precedents you are to follow, chang- 
ing only the adventurer's names, the rents and con- 
ditions of plantation, as the case shall require : for 
doing whereof, this shall be yoiir sufficient warrant. 



I. 

1636. 



286 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP. So we bid you heartily farewel. Given at Ports- 
mouth, the eighth of August, 1636. 

" Signed, 

" C. BALTIMORE."* 

It will readily be perceived, that these instruc- 
tions, or conditions of plantation, were well calcu- 
lated to induce men of some property in England, 
who were able to bear the expense of transporting 
servants and dependents, to emigrate to this pro- 
vince. It is true, that it was sketching out aristo- 
cratic features in the future government of the pro- 
vince, which, in other times, might have been sup- 
posed to operate in discouragement of emigration. 
But, it is to be remembered, that the colonists, for 
whom Maryland >vas formed as an asylum, being 
Catholic refugees, were accustomed to arange them- 
selves, according to the then politics of England, on 
the side of the supporters of the monarchy and aristo- 
cracy of the realm. This feudal mode of parcelling 
out lands by subinfeudation, was not, therefore, so 
horrible to them, as may appear to us at this day.f 
" The age of chivalry," had not then quite past; 
and some faint remains of the reciprocal connexion 
between a lord and his vassals, might still be dis- 

• See the Provincial Records, entitled, " Council Proceed- 
ings from 1636 to 1657," p. 1. 

t The feudal tenures then subsisted nearly in the same state 
as they are described in lord Coke's Institutes, which were 
written and published but a few years prior to lord Baltimore's 
charter of Maryhind. The reader recollects, that the feudal 
tenures were not completely abolished, until within a few 
years after the restoration of Charles II, in 1660. 




HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 287 

cemed in the structure of society, sufficient to in- 
duce the dependents of a chief, to brave with him 
the dangers of the ocean, the wilderness, and the 1636. 
savage. 

One circumstance, however, discernible in this 
plan of colonisation, must attract approbation. The 
grants to the adventurers were to be, of an indefea- 
sible estate of inheritance in fee simple, to them and 
their heirs, forever. Security in the absolute en- 
joyment of property, is the best corner-stone that 
can be laid in the foundation, which is to support 
the fabric of a free government. An humble feu- 
dal tenant, enfossed round with this rampart, might 
well consider his cottage as his castle ; and might 
smile with regret at the delusion even of the well- 
meaning citizen, who delights in the uncertainty of 
revolutionary liberty. 

In pursuance of these instructions, and corre- 
spondent also, with the charter, manors of lands 
were, in process of time, laid off in different parts 
of the province ; and some of them appropriated or 
reserved for the lord proprietor's own particular use, 
others again were erected by the special orders of 
the lord proprietor, for the benefit of his relations or 
particular friends, with special conditions and privi- 
leges, and others also so denominated and granted 
to individuals, according to the terms of these in- 
structions, or coriditions of plantation, as they so 
came entitled, for the transportation of colonists or 
settlers into the province. But, although the power 
and right of holding courts-baron and courts-leet, 
might have been inserted in some, or all of those 
grants of manors, yet we are told, from good autho- 



288 HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 

CHAP, rity, that no memorial appears on the records of the 
^,^^^^1^^^ province, of any practical use of either of these 

1636. kinds of courts.* 

Grants of As it would uot havc been safe, at this period of 

in"the ° ^ time, to have commenced a scattered population of 

Mar "f ^^^"^^ country, it was very properly directed by his 

lordship, soon after the foregoing instructions, by 

letter, to his brother and lieutenant-general, bearing 

date the 29th of August, 1636, that he should 

" pass in freehold, to every of the first adventurers 

that shall claim or desire it, and to their heirs, ten 

* See the Landholder's Assistant, p. &o ; a very judicious 
work, lately published by Mr. John Kilty, register of the land 
office for the western shore of the state of Maryland. But, I 
find in the " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1637," p. 23, 
a commission there recorded, for holding a court-leet in the 
isle of Kent, directed " to Robert Philpot, William Cox, and 
Thomas Allen, of the isle of Kent, gentlemen, to be justices 
of the peace within the said island, to hold a court-leet in all 
cixnl actions not exceeding 1200 ib. tobacco ; and to hear and 
determine all offcncts criminal, within the said islands, which 
may be determined by any justice of peace in England, not 
extending to the loss of life or member. Given at St. Mary's, 
February 9th, 1637. Witness, Leonard Calvert." As pro- 
ceedings, most probably, took place under this commission, 
there must, of consequence, have been some written memo- 
rials of those proceedings once existing, though probably now 
lost. As the business of courts-leet in England, have long 
ago been gradually absorbed by the courts of quarter sessions 
for the shire or county, so with us, it is probable, that if any 
courts-leet or courts-baron were ever held in the province, 
the county courts at a very early period, swallowed up their 
jurisdictions. To trace these transfers of judicial power, 
would at this day be an unnecessary, if it was a possible, task, 
except it be to throw some light upon the history of those 
times. 



HTSTORY OF MARYLAND. 289 

acres of land within the plots assigned, or to be as- chap. 
signed for the town and fields of St. Miiry's, for ^^^^..^^^^^^ 
every person that any of the said adventurers trans- i6'i6. 
ported or brought into Maryland, according to their 
conditions first published, and five acres of land to 
e\ery other adventurer, for every other person which 
he hath or shall transport thither, since that time of 
the first plantation, until tlie thirteenth day of Au- 
gust, 1638." 

Although king Charles I, had, but a few years xik> na- 
before he granted the charter of Maryland to lordi'"'?.*^'"^ 

^ _ -^ first lorm 

Baltimore, dissolved his parliament, and had at that of g-ovem- 

P 1 1 , • , . . mentof 

tune tormed the resolution, as some historians al- the coi*^ 
kge, of never calling another, and of go\'erning"^ 
without them, yet we find very strong provision 
made in that instrument of grant, for that important 
ingi-edient of a free government, — a representative 
legislature. In the seventh section of that charter, 
the king " grants unto the said baron and to his 
heirs, for the good and happy government of the 
said provinces, free, full, and absolute power, to 
ordain, make, and enact laws, of what kind soever, 
according to their sound discretions, whether relat- 
ing to the public state of the said province, or the 
private utility of individuals, of and with the advice, 
assent, and approbation of the free-men of the same 
province, or of the greater part of them, or of their 
delegates or deputies, whom we will^ shall be called 
together for the framing of laws, when, and as often 
<is need shall require, by the aforesaid baron of Bal- 
t^ore, and his heirs, and in the form which shall 
seem best to him or them, and the same to publish 
and duly to execute," 

2 o 




290 HISTOItY OF MARYLAND. 

But, in the eighth, or next section immediately 
_ following, a clause is inserted, which by a latitude 
1636. of construction, might possibly be interpreted to 
give powers repugnant to the mode of legislation 
prescribed or gi-anted in the former. A reason for 
the clause is first given by way of preamble : " and 
forasmuch as in the government of so great a pro- 
vince, sudden accidents may frequently happen, to 
which it will be necessary to apply a remedy before 
the freeholders of the said province, their delegates, 
or deputies, can be called together, for the framing 
of laws ; neither will it be fit, that so great a num- 
ber of people should immediately on such emergent 
occasion, be called together, we therefore, for the 
better government of so great a province, do will 
and ordain, and by these presents, for us, our heirs 
and successors, do grant, unto the said now baron 
of Baltimore, and to his heirs, that he and they, by 
themselves, or by their magistrates and officers, &:c. 
may, and can make and constitute jit and wholesome 
ordinances, from time to time, to be kept and ob- 
served within the province aforesaid, as well for the 
conservation of the peace, as for the better govern- 
ment of the people inhabiting therein, and publicly 
to notify the same to all persons whom the same in 
any wise do, or may afiect. Which ordinances, we 
will to be inviolably observed within the said pro- 
vince, under the pains to be expressed in the same, 
so that the said ordinances be consonant to reason, 
and he not repugnant nor contrary, but (so far as 
conveniently may be done), agreeable to the laws, 
statutes, or rights of our kingdom of England : and 
so that the same ordinances do not, in any sort, ex- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 291 

tend to oblige, hind, charge, or take axvay the right chap. 
or interest of any person or persons, of, or in mem- v^»-v->^ 
ber, life, freehold, goods or chattels.'*'' 1636. 

This was entirely consonant to those unfortunate 
maxims which Charles had adopted about this time, 
for the rules of his regal conduct. That his orders 
in council, and proclamations thereupon, should be 
deemed the legal and constitutional substitutes of 
laws, which ought to have been enacted by tl\e 
three estates of the realm in parliament assembled, 
was a principle, on which, as a dangerous rock, his 
subsequent fortunes split.* But it must be ac- 
knowledged, that qualified as this principle is, by 
the limititions at the end of the clause in this eighth 
section of the charter, it is difficult to conceive, 
wherein a case could occur, in which an ordinance 
of the lord proprietor or his governour, could possi- 
bly be made so as not " to oblige, bind, charge, or 
take away the right or interest of some person or 
i:)ersons, of, or in member, life, freehold, goods, or 
chattels." 

This leads us, however, to the notice of an in- jg^j, 
strument of writing, called in the body of it, " an An ordi- 
ordinance," made by the lord Baltimore, in Eng- that pur- 
land, in the early part of the year 1637, bearing date P°^^' 
the 15th of April, 1637, containing instructions to 
his brother Leonard Calvert, esq. for the regulation, 
government, and settlement of the province. But, 
as he therein constitutes and appoints him to fill se- 
veral offices in the province, it would seem more 
propei'ly to fall under the denomination of a com- 

* Hume's Hist, of England, chap. 41, 



i)y2 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP. ?nission ; in which, after constituting him gover- 
,,,^^^^r>^ nour, lieutenant-general, chief captain and com- 
1637. mander, as well by sea as by land, of his province, 
and the islands to the same belonging, and appoint- 
ing him also, chancellor, chief justice, and chief 
magistrate within the said province, until officers 
and ministers of justice should be appointed, he 
proceeds (to what seems to be the most important 
part of the commission,) to grant to him power and 
authority also, " to assemble the freemen of our said 
province, or their deputies, at St. Mary's, upon the 
twenty-fifth day of January next ensuing the date 
hereof, and then and there to signify to them, that 
we do disasscnt to all the laws, by them heretofore, 
or at any time made within our said province, and 
do hereby declare them to be void ; and further, to 
show unto them the draught or copy of all such 
laws and ordinances for the good government of 
our said province, as we shall before that time trans- 
mit to you, with our assent for enacting the same ; 
and likewise, if the said freemen, or their deputies, 
so assembled, shall approve and consent unto all the 
said draughts or copies of the said laws and ordi- 
nances, in manner as we send them over, to pub- 
lish the same as laws, under the great seal of our 
said province, that the people of our said province 
may take the better notice thereof." 

He also therein, grants power to the said gover- 
nour, " after dissolving the present assembly, to 
call another, and to propound and propose other 
laws, to be assented to and confirmed, if approved 
by his lordship himself." 

Also, general power " to call and dissolve assem- 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 2< 

blies, and also to make ordinances, edicts, and chaf 
proclamations, with reasonable pains and penalties ^^^^ 
therein, not extending to the taking the right or in. 1637. 
terest of any person or persons, of, or in their life, 
member, or freeholds, goods, or chattels." 

Also, power to appoint places for public ports 
for shipping, 8cc. and places for fairs and markets, 
on certain days. 

Also power to grant pardons, &c. not extending 
to high treason ; — 

Also, to grant commissions for the execution of 
justice, and for the dividing and bounding of lands, 
and also to make grants of lands being thereby also 
made keeper of the great seal. 

Also, by the same commission, three persons, to 
wit, Jerome Hawley, esq., Thomas Cornwalleys, 
esq., and John Lewger, gentleman, were appointed 
"to be of our council of and within our said pro- 
vince, with whom our said lieutenant shall from 
time to time advise," &c^ 

Also power given to the said lieutenant " to in- 
quire and determine, and finally to judge of and 
upon all causes criminal whatsoever, to give sen- 
tence or judgment in or upon the same, (excepting 
only where the life or member of any person shall 
or may be inquired of or determined,) and to award 
execution on such sentence or judgment; and also 
to hear and determine all civil causes, both in law 
and equity, concerning any goods, chattels, con- 
tracts, debts, or other personal or mixt action or 
actions, suit or suits whatsoever, in the most sum- 
mary and equal way that he may according to the 
orders, laws, and statutes of that our said province. 




294 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

already made and established or hereafter to be 
made," Sec. and in default of such laws, &c. then 
according to the laws and statutes of the realm of 
England as near as he may or can." 

" Also, when the life, member, or freehold of any 
person shall happen to come in question, full power 
to the said lieutenant or to such persons as we shall 
from time to time appoint to be of our council with- 
in the said province, or to any three of them, where- 
of our said lieutenant always to be one, to inquire and 
determine according to the laws of our said province, 
and finally to give sentence and judgment thereupon, 
and to award execution accordingly." 

By the same instrument John Lewger, gentleman, 
was appointed " secretary and keeper of the acts 
and proceedings of our lieutenant and council for 
tlie time being, and for the doing and recording of 
all grants of land, or of officers within the pro- 
vince." 

Also power was given to the governour to ap- 
point a deputy in his absence, or to the council, on 
the failure of the governour to do so.* 

The most remarkable part of the foregoing com- 
mission seems to be, that which relates to the calling 
an assembly on the twenty-fifth of Januiuy next, for 
the purpose of signifying to them his lordship's dis- 
asseiit to some laws which had been before that 
time enacted by them. Although no memorial of 
any proceedings of any assembly remains upon the 
records of the province, prior to that which was 

* See the Provincial Records, entitled " Council Procetd- 
i'figs from 1636 to 1657," p. 11. 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 295 

called and held on the 25th of Januar}% 1638, (1637 chap. 
old style), according to the directions contained in v,^^^.,^ 
the foregoing commission, yet it seems that an as- 1637. 
sembly had been held at St. Mary's in 1635,* and, 
as is to be inferred fi'om the foregoing commission, 
had enacted divers laws, to which, it seems, the 
lord proprietor thought proper to refuse his assent, 
and to declare them void. What those laws were, 
or what were his lordship's reasons for refusing his 
assent to them, we are not informed. It would 
seem at first, as if his lordship meant to contend for 
such a construction of the seventh section of the 
chapter, as if it exclusively invested in him the 
right and power of first propounding the laws to tlie 
assembly, for their advice, assent, and approbation," 
and that the assembly had no right or privilege of 
originating or framing laws. Something like this 
seems to have been hinted, at divers times during 
the reigns of king James and king Charles I, by the 
advocates for extending the royal prerogative, and 
that the only use of a house of commons was to 
grant money to the crown. This subject, howe- 
ver, will be further explained, when we come to 
notice the proceedings of the assembly, which was 
directed to be called on the twenty-fifth of January. 

In the mean-time, it will be necessary to men- Proclama- 
tion some intervening incidents of the present year; England 
among which a proclamation issued by king Charles, ^^^"ra. 
bearing date " the last day of April," 1637, " against *^o"- 
the disorderly transporting his majesty's subjects to 

• Holmes's Annals, Vol, 1. p. 306, who cites Chalmers's 
Annals, Vol. 1, p. 232. 




29S HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

the plantations within the ports of America," seems 
to claim some notice. By this proclamation the offi- 
1637. cers of the several ports in England, Wales, and 
Berwick, were commanded not to permit any per- 
sons, being subsidy-men, or of the value of sub- 
sidy-men,* to embark for any of the plantations, 
-without leave from his majesty's commissioners for 
plantations,! first had and obtained, nor any persons 
under the degree or value of subsidy-men, without 
an attestation or certificate from two justices of the 
peace, living next the place where the party lately 
then before dwelt, that he hatli taken the oaths of su- 
premacy and allegiance y and like testimony from the 
minister of his conversation and conformity to the 
orders and discipline of the Church of England; and 
that such officers should return to his majesty's said 
commissioners of plantations every half-year a list 
of the names and qualities of all such persons, as 
shall from time to time be embarked in any of the 
said ports for any of the said plantations 4 Al- 
though it is evident that this proclamation would af- 
fect the emigration of English Catholics to Mary, 
land, if put in execution against them, yet it would 
seem, from the preamble to it, to have been princi- 
pally intended to check the emigration of the Pu- 
ritans to New England, referring to the transporta- 

• That is, men, who were liaUe to pay the tax called a 
Subsidy. 

t These seem to be the commissioners before-mentioned 
p. 235, viz, archbishop Laud and others, 

\ See the proclamation more at large in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. I, p. 421. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 297 

tion of '^ many idle and refractory humours, whose chap. 
only or principal end is to live as much as they can v^^^v-,^ 
without the reach of authority." It is probable issr. 
that it was never enforced as to Catholics, or that 
they at all times could easily obtain a license to de- 
part. Besides, the civil wars now approaching, soon 
rendered it ineffectual even as to the Puritans. 

It seems to have been adopted as a proper policy Traffic 
to be observed in the infant state of the Maryland Indians re- 
colony, borrowed perhaps from the same or a simi- ^ ^ ^ ^ ' 
lar regulation in Virginia, that no person should be 
allowed to carry on any traffic with the Indians, 
without a formal, written license for that purpose. 
The late alarm created by the behaviour of the In- 
dians towards the colonists at St. Mary's, before- 
mentioned, might have, perhaps, dictated this regu- 
lation. "We find, therefore, among the records of 
this year, that of a written license to Thomas Corn- 
wallis, esq., bearing date the 30th of December, 
1637, " to trade with the Indians for corn."* 

It would appear also, that towards the latter end The isle of 

r 1 • 1 • 1 f Tr 1-11 • Kentredu. 

of this year the isle of Kent had been m some mea- cedtoiord 
sure reduced to the obedience of the lord Baltimore, more's go- 
Clay borne had failed in his attempts to retain his ^'^'""'"^"^ 
possession of it by force, and had, as before-obser- 
ved, been sent by the govemour of Virginia to 
England, to seek what remedy he might have there. 
Measures seem, therefore, now to have been taken 
to put in force the civil authority of the lord pro- 
prietor over that island, as a part of his province. 
Accordingly a commission was granted by gover- 

• " Council Proceedings," from 1636 to 1657," p. 20. 

2 P 



i3t>« HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, noiir Calvert, to captain George Evelyn, bearing 
y^^^J->^^ date the 30th of December, 1637, to be governour 
1637. of the isle of Kent,* authorising him to choose six of 
the inhabitants thereof for his council, and giving 
him power to call a court or courts, and in the said 
courts, to hold pleas in civil cases not exceeding 
10/. sterling ; and jurisdiction in criminal cases over 
all oft'ences which may be heard by justices of the 
peace in their sessions in England, not extending to 
life or member, and to appoint officers for the exe- 
cution of justice and conservation of the peace 
there, with allowance of such fees as are usually 
belonging to the same or the like offices in Vir- 
ginia.! 
1.638. The colonists, it seems, had now begun to extend 
The coio- their settlements beyond the limits of the town of 
gin to ex- St. Mary's. In a commission to Robert Vaughan, 
se'uk- '^ of St. George's hundred, bearing date the 5th day 
"iuo\he of January, 1637, (1638, new style,) appointing him 
country, coustablc of the said hundred,^ there is the follow-- 

* Evelin must have been a man of some note at this time 
in the province, as it appears from the land records of the 
province, that he was the owner at this time of " the manor 
of Evelinton, in the baronie of St. Mary's ;" (see Kilty's Land- 
holder's Assistant, p. 68.) A manor could not be less than 
one thousand acres, according to his lordship's instructions of 
1636, before-mentioned. 

t " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 20. 

\ Although the oflice of constable is now by us, and might 
be then in England, thought to be an office bcloAv the dignity 
of a gentleman ; yet in the then situation of the province, it 
might with propriety be estimated an office of honour. That 
Mr. Vaughan was then considered in the rank of a gentleman, 
we may infer from his subsequent promotions, particulailv 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 299 

ifig preamble to it : " whereas the west side of St, cn\i'. 
George's river is now planted by several inhabitants, v.^-^^^,^ 
and is thought fit to be erected into a hundred, by i63h. 
the name of St. George's hundred," &:c. The com- 
mission specifies his powers as the constable of that 
hundred, nearly in the same manner as the like com-, 
mission in England, prescribing their common law- 
duties; but moreover parti c-ularly enjoins him, to 
make diligent search and inquiry, for persons who 
furnish the Indians or savages, with arms and am- 
munition.* 

As hundreds were the civil divisions of a county xhe conn- 
in England, we may infer, that all the parts of the ^^."yg^^j.^ 
countiy adjacent to the town of St. Mary's, inhabit- ganized. 
ed by the colonists, were considered as forming a 
county, to which the name of St. Mary's was given ; 
but whether any real limits were yet assigned and 
marked out as the boundaries of that county, does 
not appear. That a county was now so called, ap- 
j>ears from a commission to John Lewger, esq., 
bearing date the 24th of January, 1637, (1638, new 
style,) appointing him conservator of the peace 
within the county of St. Marifs, with such powers 
as are usually exercised and executed by any jus- 
tice of peace in England, &c. The same commis- 
sion appoints him also, "commissioner in causes 
testamentary," to prove tlie last wills and testaments • 
of persons deceased, and to grant letters of adminis- 
tration, &c. : it is addressed to him in the following 

from his being made commander of the isle of Kent county, 
under governour Stone, about the year 1650. 

♦" Council Proceedings fii-om 1&36 to 1657," p. 2i 




300 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

style — " to our trusty counciller John Lewger, se- 
cretary of our province of Maryland."* He had 
1638. been appointed counciller and secretary by the com- 
mission of the 15th of April, 1637, before-mention- 
ed ; in virtue of which oifice of secretary^ it seems 
to have been the intent of that commission, to make 
him also, both principal clerk of the council and re-- 
gister of the land-office. It appears from subsequent 
Mr. John records of the province, that Mr. Lewger had been 
Lewger. ^^^^^ j^^^^ ^^^ proviucc from England, by the lord 

proprietor, as a man well qualified to assist his bro- 
ther in the administration of the government. He 
arrived there on the 28th of November, 1637, with 
his wife, and a son named John, about nine years 
old, together with three maid servants, three men 
servants, and a boy.f It would seem, therefore, 
that he was a man above the ordinary rank in so- 
ciety, both as to fortune and mental qualifications. 
An assem- In pursuance of the lord proprietor's instructions, 
plovfni? before-mentioned, of the 15th of April, 1637, for the 
called. holding an assembly, on the 25th of January next, 
the governour proceeded to some preparatory ar- 
rangements necessary thereto. Accordingly, about 
the first of January, 1637, (1638, new style,) he 

* " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 23. 

t See Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, p. 67. Although 
these are styled servants in the record, yet they might not all 
have been retained by him as menial servants, but persons 
imported or brought in with him at his expense, so as to en- 
title him to " rights" of land accruing from such importation, 
by virtue of the lord proprietor's instructions of 1636, before- 
mentioned. These particulars relative to Mr. Lewger, exhi- 
bit the early mode of colonising the province. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. SQt 

issued his warrant to captain Evelin, commander ckap. 
of the isle of Kent, as before- mentioned, reciting, v^r^,^>^, 
tliat " whereas my dear brother, the lord proprietor 1638. 
of this province, hath, by his commission to me 
directed, in that behalf, bearing date at London, in 
the realm of England, the 15th day of April, 1637, 
appointed a general assembly of all the freemen of 
this province, to be held at his town of St. Mary's, 
on the 25th of January next ; these are therefore, in 
his lordship's name, to will and require you, all ex- 
cuses set apart, to make your personal repair to the 
fort of St. Mary's, on the said 25th day of January, 
then and there to consult and advise of the affairs of 
this province ; and further, to will and require you 
at some convenient time, when you shall think fit, 
within six days after the receipt hereof at the far- 
thest, to assemble all the freemen inhabiting within 
any part of your jurisdiction, and then and there to 
publish and proclaim the said general assembly, and 
to endeavour to persuade such, and so many of the 
said freemen as you shall think fit, to repair per. 
sonally to the said assembly, at the time and place 
prefixed, and to give free power and liberty to all 
the rest of the said freemen^ either to be present at 
the said assembly, if they so please, or otherwise to 
elect and nominate such, and so many persons, as 
they or the major part of them, so assembled, shall 
agree upon, to be the deputies or burgesses for tlie 
said freemen^ in their name and stead, to advise and 
consult of such things as shall be brought into de- 
liberation in the said assembly, and to enter all the 
several votes and sufiVages upon record, and the re- 
cord thereof, and whatsoever }^ou shall do in any of 




302 HISTORY OF MAICYLAND. 

the premises, to bring along with you, and exhibit 
^-^^^^^ it at the day and place prefixed, to the secretary of 
1638. the province for the time being ; and for so doing, 

this shall be your warrant."* 

• See "Assembly Proceedings from 1637 to 1658," p. i. 
As the word " freemen," so often repeated in this warrant or 
writ, frequently also occurs in the early legislative proceed- 
ings of the province, and is moreover, an expi-ession used in 
the charter, of material import in the political constitution of 
the province, it will be proper, that a correct idea should be 
annexed to it. In the translation of the charter, inserted in 
Bacon's edition of the laws, it is used as the true signification 
of the words " liberorum hominum" of the original Latin. It 
is true, that in common speech at this day, the word " free- 
man" means a person who is not a servant or slave. But the 
words " liberoi-um hominum," in the charter, must, I appre- 
hend, have a more technical meaning, and be subject to the 
signification annexed to it by the rules of the common law. 
It will be recollected, that the feudal tenures then, at the time 
of making the charter, subsisted in considerable force ; and as 
the charter was evidently framed upon feudal principles, these 
words ought properly to be interpreted in a feudal sense. 
Now the word " freemen," as well as the Latin expression 
" liberorum hominum," were, according to common law wri- 
ters, cotemporary, or nearly so, with the date of the charter, 
understood as being synonimous to the word freeholder. 
Spelman, in his glossary, verb homo., says that " homo liber" 
is to be taken » pro libero tenente," for a freeholder. The fol- 
lowing sentence in Magna Charta, ch. 14: Liber homo r\on 
amercietur pro parvo delicto, nisi secundum modum illius de- 
licti, is thus translated in Keble's statutes at large : " o. free- 
man shall not be amerced for a small fault, but after the man- 
ner of the fault." Upon this lord Coke (2 Inst. 27,) has made 
the following comment: " a frcevian hath here a special un- 
derstanding, and is taken for him, qid tenet libere., for y. free- 
holder" Also in his comment on the statute of Quia Emp- 
tores, (2 Inst. 501,) he makes the same interpretation of the 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. SQci 

It is not easy to determine, whether the isle of chap. 
Kent. was at this time considered as a county by^^^-^,^^^^ 
itself, or a distinct territorial government, within 1638. 

words " libero homini." And again, in his 1 Inst. 58, a. he 
uses the words freemen ^xvdi freeholders as synonimous terms, 
when applied to the tenants of a manor. It might possibly 
be objected, that inasmuch as the words " liberi tenentes," 
which literally signify freeholders^ are used in the next suc- 
ceeding section (the eighth,) of the charter of Maryland, and 
which words are, in tlie translation in Bacon, rendered free- 
holders^ this variance in the terms used in the same instru- 
ment bespeaks a different sense of the words " liberorum ho- 
minum" in the preceding or seventh section; But by com- 
paring the two sections together, it will be seen, that the 
words " liberi tenentes" in the eighth section, are used in re- 
ference to the " liberorum hominum*' of the next preceding 
seventh section ; which clearly implies, that they were consi- 
dered as synonimous expressions. Hence it is to be inferred, 
that no inhabitant of the province was, at this period of time 
considered as a freeman^ unless he was an owner of land 
therein ; that is, ^freeholders and consequently not entitled to 
a seat in the house of assembly, unless he was such. It ap- 
pears, indeed, from the 14th clause of the act of 1638, (1639, 
new style,) ch. 2, and the 26th bill of those ingrossed at the 
same session, but not fiassed, that the governour, as lieuten- 
ant-general of the lord proprietor, claimed the prerogative, 
probably as a part of the Palatinate Regalia, of summoning by 
special writ, " gentlemen of able judgment and quality," to 
the assembly, similar to the royal prerogative of England, of 
calling by writ to the house of peers ; but it does not appear, 
that it was not requisite, that these " gentlemen" so summon- 
ed, should be freeholders. It is probable, however, that at 
this time, most of the inhabitants of the province, except such 
as were imported at the expense of others, were freeholders, 
or owners of land within the province. Although a right to 
a seat in the house of assembly, and a right to vote for a bur- 
gess or delegate, or to constitute a proxy, appear to have been 
at this time one and the same right, dependent upon the same 



304 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, the lord Baltimore's jurisdiction, subordinate to the 
^l^,^ general government of the province. From the cir- 

i638. cumstance of captain Evelyn's having a council as- 
signed him of six persons, as mentioned in his com- 
mission, before stated, of the 30th of December, 
1637, it would seem to be of the latter.* However 
that was, yet it seems, that at this time ?avf freeman 
thereof had liberty to repair in person to the assem- 
blv, and to be considered as a member thereof. Al- 
though the alternative was given them, by the fore- 
going warrant, of meeting together, and electing 
representatives to serve in the assembly, as at this 
day ;f yet it would appear from the proceedings of 
this assembly, that the practical construction of the 
foregoing warrant was, that every freeman who did 
not choose to attend himself, might depute some 
one, who did attend as a member, to vote for him 

qualifications, and attached to every freeman of the province, 
yet it would seem, that in process of time, when the popula- 
tion of the province increased, and it became inconvenient for 
every freeman to have a right to a seat in the house, (an in- 
convenience felt, and proposed to be refitiedied by the before- 
mentioned 26th bill of the session of 1638-9,) other persons 
besides freeholders, were by law admitted to the right of suf- 
frage. It accordingly appears, by the act of 17 16, ch. 1 1, that 
freemen, who were residents, and who had a visible estate of 
40/. sterling," (though not freeholders,) were entitled both to 
vote and to be voted for ; though it is probable, that this re- 
gulation had been adopted prior to the year 1710. 

* But subsequently, in the year 1650, it was considered as a 
distinct county, sending one delegate to the assembly. See 
Bacon's Laws, the N. B. preceding chap. 1. 

t This alternative seems to be authorized also by the seventh 
section of the charter, before-mentioned. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 30 j 

St 

as his proxy^ in the manner of the house of lords chap 
in England.* v-.^-v^^^ 

The assembly accordingly met on the 25th day 1638. 
of January, 1637, (1638, new style.) The lieuten- '^^^^Jl^^ 
ant-c^eneral, (or arovernoin*,) appears to have taken °^^''P 

-^ . \ o '/ 1 1 province 

the chair as speaker thereof, and the three gentle- meet 
men who composed his council, to wit : Jerome 
Hawley, Thomas Cornwallis, and John Lewger, 
esquires, sat widi the others as individual members 
only, and not as constituting an upper house, as the 
council afterwards did, but in the manner of a 
Scotch parliament before the union. The com- 
mander of the isle of Kent, (Evelyn,) also took his 

* Something like this constituted an article in the first form 
of government instituted by the New Haven colony, on their 
first settlement at Quinipiack or New Haven, in 1637-8, be- 
fore their union with Connecticut. " All freemen, without 
summons, should meet once a-year, and vote in the election 
of officers ; ajul such as cannot attend in jierson, may iwte by 
firoxy, or send their votes sealed." Hutchinson's Hist, of 
Massachusetts, Vol. 1, p. 82. This practice, adopted as we 
see in two of the earliest English settlements of North Ame- 
rica, must have been derived from an usage in the house of 
lords in England, The principle, upon which the right of 
making a proxy prevail^ in the house of lords and not in the 
house of commons, is said to be, that the lords are supposed 
to sit in parliament in their own personal rights, and not as 
delegates or deputies of others, as the commons do. And, 
therefore, as a commoner in parliament was only a proxy or 
representative of another, he could not constitute a proxy in 
his place, according to an ancient maxim of law, delegata 
potestas non fxoto^t delegari, 4 Inst. 12, 1 Bac. Abr. 582. So 
allowing every freeman in Maryland to have a seat in the as- 
sembly, sitting there in his own personal right, he might 
make a proxy upon the same principle as a lord in England. 

2 Q 



SOQ HISTORY Ol- IVIARYLAXD. 

CHAP, seat as a member. In the list of fhe members, 
t^^y^,^^^^ some of whom are styled gentlemen, and some 
i6aS. planters, the fnmdreds from which they came, are 
annexed to their respective names. It would ap- 
pear, that some of the members sat as burgesses or 
representatives from hundreds ; others claimed and 
held seats in their own personal rights as freemen, 
and so far constituting, what is by some required to 
constitute, a true and real democracy, or an assem- 
blage of all the free citizens of the state to make 
laws for themselves. It is true, that all the freemen 
of the province did not attend ; but it appears, that 
such as did not attend, either voted for some per- 
son in his hundred as a burgess or representative 
thereof, or authorised some member, as his proxy, 
to vote for him. Although n'rits of summons , it 
seems, had been issued to every freeman, individu- 
ally, to attend, yet one of the first acts of the pro- 
ceedings of the assembly, on the first day of their 
meeting, was to cause proclamation to be made, 
" that all freemen omitted in the writs of summons, 
that would claim a voice in the general assembly^ 
should come and make their claim." 

" Whereupon claim was made by John" Robin- 
son, carpenter, and was admitted." 

A list was made of such freemen as were absent, 
and of the names of those members who attended, 
and vvcre proxies for such absentees ; among which 
members, the three gentlemen who were councillors 
appear to have had the greatest number.* 

* The proceedings do not specify, how such delegated au- 
thority to a /iroxy should be verified ; but we may suppose it 



HISTORY OF MAIIYLAXB. 30r 

The house then proceeded to establish rules and chap 
orders to be observed during their session ; the sub- v^^^,^^^ 
stance of which was as follows : i6-'>8 

" Imprimis — The lieutenant-general, as president 
of the assembl}^, shall appoint and direct all things 
that concern form and decency, to be observed in the 
same ; and shall command the observance thereof, 
as he shall see cause, upon pain of imprisonment or 
fine, as the house shall adjudge. 

" Item — Every one that is to speak to any mat- 
ter shall stand up, and be uncovered, and direct his 
speech to the lieutenant-general, as president of the 
assembly ; and if two or more stand up to speak 
together, the lieutenant-general shall appoint which 
shall si^ak, 

" Item — No man shall stand up to speak to any 
matter, until the party that spoke last before, have 
sat down ; nor shall any one speak above once to 
one bill or matter at one reading, nor shall refute the 
speech of any other with any contentious terms, nor 
shall name him but by some circumlocution ; and 
if any one offend to the contrary, the lieutenant- 
general shall command him to silence. 

" Item — The house shall sit every day at eight 
o'clock in the morning, and at two o'clock in the 
afternoon. 

to have been by the production to the house of some writtei) 
instrument, in the nature of a warrant of attorney. Although 
it is said, (Cunningh. Law Diet. verb, firoxy^ that a peer of 
the realm must enter his proxy in person^ on the journal of 
the house of lords ; yet, from the case that occurred in 1 Eliz. 
(as stated by lord Coke, 4 Inst. 12,) it might be done by an 
instrument of writing for that purpose. 



308 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP. " Item — The freemen assembled at any time, to 
^^,^^'-v>^^ any number above ten persons, at the hours afore- 
1638. said, or within one hour after, shall be a house to 
all purposes. 

Item — Every one propounding any matter to the 
house, shall digest it at first into writing, and deli- 
ver it to the secretary,* to be read unto the house. 

" And it was ordered by the house, that these 
orders should be set up in some public place of the 
house, to the end all might take notice of them." 

The house met again on the next day, the 26th 
of January, at eight o'clock, according to regulation. 
Several persons came in, and " claimed their voices 
as freemen ;" of which the following entries on the 
journal of the house, appeal' to be the most remark- 
able : 

" Then came Edward Bateman, of Saint Mary's 
Tiundred, ship-carpenter, and claimed a voice as 
freeman, and made Mr. John Lewger, secretary, 
his proxy, "t 

Also, " came John Langford, of the isle of Kent^A 
gentleman, high constable of the said island, who 
had given a voice in the choice of Robert lihilpot, 
gentleman, to be one of the burgesses for the free- 
men of that island, and desired to revoke his voice. 



* From this we may infer, that the secretary of the pro- 
vince, Mr. Lewger, acted as clerk of this assembly, notwith- 
standing he was a councillor, and held moreover severalother 
offices, and besides voted as a member of the house. 

t This seems consonant to the practice of.the house of lords 
in England, where a proxy must be made in the house in /ler^ 
aCKj as before-mentioned. 



y 



HISTORY OF MAR-iXAND. 309 

and to be personally put in the assembly, and was chap. 
admitted." v^-v^^s^ 

The house then proceeded to the most important i638. 
business of their session, the consideration of the 3^n!biv 
laws transmitted to the colony by the lord proprie- take into 
tor. The draughts of the twelve first acts of them fion the 
being read, they "were severally debated by the in by the 
house." An adjournment then took place until fj^^^^'^*^' 
three o'clock in the afternoon ; but notliing further 
of importance appears on the journal, to have been 
transacted on that da}\ 

On the meeting of the house on the third day of 
their session, (the 29th of January,) an extraordinary 
question seems to have been agitated. It thus ap- 
pears on the journal : " Upon occasion of some 
warrants granted out against some freemen that had 
made proxies, a question was moved in the house, 
whether freemen having made proxies during the 
assembly might be arrested before the assembly 
were dissolved ; and captain Cornwaleys and James 
Baldridge were of opinion that they might, but the 
rest of the bouse generally concurred, that after the 
writs issued for summoning the assembh^ no man 
having right to repair unto the assembly might be 
arrested, until a convenient space of time after the 
dissolution of the said assembl}'', for their repair 
home." 

It is to be observed, that this privilege from ar- 
rests, on -warrants here mentioned, must have been 
only in civil cases, as for debt ; for even at this time 
in England, no privilege of parliament was allowed , 
to exempt even peers of the realm, from arrests for ' 
^ny indictable crime. If the pri^-ilcge here contend- 



310 HISTOR* OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, ed for, was meant to extend to a freeman while he 
^^^,^,„^^ was actually on his way to the assembly, either to 
1638. take his seat therein, or even to revoke a proxy be- 
fore made by him, the decision of the house must 
be allowed to have been proper enough ; for, by 
the law of parliament, the appearance of a peer in 
the house of lords, cancels any proxy before made 
by him ;* but, if he was to be privileged from ar- 
rests while he was about his ordinary business at 
home, and at the same time represented by his 
proxy, whom he had appointed, or burgess for 
whom he had voted, it does not appear to have 
been consonant to any principle of sound policy. 

It seems somewhat remarkable to us at this day, 
that our ancestors, in such an early state of their 
colonisation, should have had occasion to stickle so 
much for a privilege, generally esteemed odious 
even under governments where personal liberty is 
most strongly cherished. As the habit of contract- 
ing debts without the means of payment, is gene- 
rally supposed to originate from an excess of luxury 
in living, it is difficult to account for the frequency 
of aiTests for debts, which must be supposed to 
have existed at this time among the colonists, so as 
to make their legislative interference a subject of 
anxiety among them. Just settled in a wilderness, 
where few temptations to extravagant expenses 
could exist, we should have supposed that habits 
of economy would have become almost unavoid- 
able. 

The house now proceeded to take into conside- 

• 4 Inst. 13. 



HTSTORY OF MATIYLAXD. 311 

ration again, the laws sent b}^ the lord proprietor, as chap. 
before-mentioned. Three qnestions on the subject v^^^v-^^ 
appear to have been proposed in the house : first, lo^s, 
whether the laws should be now read again in the 
house ; or, secondly, whether they should be put to 
the vote immediately, without further reading ; or, 
thirdly, whether the subject should not be post- 
poned to a future day, when a greater number of 
members might attend. 

*' Captain Cornwaleys gave his opinion, that they 
should expect a more frequent house;" that is, that 
the business should be postponed until a greater 
number of members attended. 

" Captain Fleete* gave his opinion, that they 
should be read again;" but seemed to coincide 
with the opinion of captain Cornwaleys, of postpon- 
ing the subject to a future day. 

The previous question, however, was put ; whe- 
ther the laws " should be now put to the vote im- 
mediatelv," or not. It was carried in the affirma- 
tive by thirty-three voices to eighteen, both sides 
including proxies. 

" Then were the laws put to the question, whe- 
ther they should be received as laws, or not." 

" Affirmed by the president and Mr. Lewger, 
^vho counted by proxies fourteen voices." 

" Denied by all the rest of the assembly, being The law* 
thirty-seven voices," including, as we may suppose, jected. 
their proxies. 

* It is probable, that this was the same captain Henry 
Fleete before-inentioned, (p. 27 1 ,) who was found by governour 
Calvert, living at Piscataway among the Indians, where he had 
been for sonxe years before the arrival of the colony. 



a 12 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 



CHAP. Thus it would seem, that governour Calvert and 



_^_^^. Mr. Lewger, the secretary, were the only two 
1638. members of the assembly who were for receiving 
the laws sent in by the lord proprietor; for although 
they counted twelve other votes besides their own, 
on the same side, that is, fourteen voices, yet as 
those freemen for whom they voted as proxies might 
not have voted in the same way, had they been pre- 
sent, the fourteen voices cannot fairly be counted, in 
forming an estimate of the real opinions of the free- 
men of the province. Neither can all the thirty-se- 
ven voices in the negative be taken in for the same 
reason ; but, we may suppose, that a much less pro- 
portion of those thirty- seven voices were proxies,, 
than on the other side ; since by the rules and orders 
of the house before-mentioned, ten members at 
least Avere necessary to constitute a house, and in 
that case there must have been eight members at 
least in the negative, who voted in their own rights, 
to two in the affirmative. The grounds and reasons 
of their objections to these laws do not appear on the 
Journal; but certain it is, that a very warm opposition, 
among a large majority of the freemen, was made to 
their reception, at the head of which opposition cap- 
tain Cornwaleys may, from all appearances, be consi- 
dered as having taken his stand. Neither are we able 
ait this day to judge of the merit or demerit of those 
laws sent in by the proprietor, by a perusal of them, 
as no copies of them are to be found on our records."^ 
Did the duty of a historian allow him to mention his 
conjectures, a plausible supposition might be made, 

* Bacon's Laws of Maryland, anno 1537. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 515 

that the dispute about the reception of these laws chap. 
was dictated more by a political contest for the right x^^^^-^^ 
of propounding laws to be enacted by the assem- 1638. 
bly than any other cause. From the good charac- 
ter which Cecilius, lord Baltimore, always bore, we 
cannot suppose that he had framed or proposed any 
laws for the colonists, but such as he deemed the 
best in his own opinion, for the promotion of their 
welfare, with which his own interest at this early 
period of the province must have been necessarily 
involved, and for the prosperity of which he must 
have felt the sincerest solicitude. It is observable, 
also, that no specific objections to any particular law 
or laws of those sent in by the lord proprietor, were 
made, but the opposition to their reception seems 
to have been founded solely on his assumption of 
the right of propounding them. We may suppose, 
on the other hand, also, that his rejection of the 
laws said to have been made by the colonists in 
1635, before-mentioned, was founded on this dis- 
putable right.* So that in the very infancy of the 
settlement, the contest for the right of propounding 
laws was likely to result in placing the colonists in 
that most dangerous situation of society, of living 
under a government without any known laws. The 
house of assembly, convened at this time, seemed 
to be sensible of this. We accordingly find, there- 
fore, on the journal of the house the following en- 
tries, immediately succeeding those of the rejection 
of the laws as just mentioned. 

** iThen question being moved, what laws the pro- 

• See note (T) at the end of the vplume. 
2 R 



314 HISTORY OF MARYLAJOX 

CHAP, vince shall be governed by, it was said by somCy 
^^r>,r^^^ that they might do well to agree upon some laws 

1638. till we could hear from England again. 
theTawsof " The president denying any such pou-W" to be 
Engl; :!id ij^ ^}-jg house, captain Comwaleys propounded the 
deemed to laws of England, the president acknowledges that 

beiniorce. , . . , , . .... 

his commission gave nim power m civil causes to 
proceed by the laws of England, and in criminal 
causes, likewise, not extending to life or member^ 
but in those he was limited to the laws of the pro- 
vince; there could be no punishment inflicted on any 
enormous offenders by the refusal of these laws." 

" Whereupon the commission was produced and 
examined, and upon the reading of it, it appeared 
that there was no power in the province to punish 
any offence deserving the loss of life or member, 
for want of laws."* 

" To this they answered, such enormous offences 
would hardly be committed without mutiny, and 
then it might be punished by martial law." 

The house at this period of the business appear 
to have adjourned for dinner, but met again in the 

• The commission here alluded to? was most probably that 
sent in to the governotir, bearing date the 1 5th of April, 1637, 
before-mentioned, by which the governour and council were 
authorised, " where t/ie Ufe^ member^ or freehold of any per- 
son should happen to come in question, to inquire and deter- 
mine according to the laws of our said provmce.^ and finally 
to give sentence and judgment thereupon and to award execu- 
tion accordingly." Tlie difficulty appeared to be, that accord- 
ing to the commission they could not proceed against offend- 
ers, in capital criminal cases, by the laws of England, but by 
their own particular local latvs of the fir ovine e i from whence 
it followed, that if there were no laws of the firovince, thelrp 
could be no proceedings in such cases. 



HISTORY OF TSIARYLAJ^D. SU 

afternoon of the same day, when it was moved, cijap. 
*' that the house would consider of some laws to be s^-^r^*^ 
sent to the lord proprietor," 1638. 

" And the president advised, that they should 
choose some committees* to prepare the draught of 
them, and then the house might meet for confirm- 
ing them ; and in the mean-time, every one might 
follow their other occasions." 

" So it being put to the vote, how many commit- 
tees should be appointed for that purpose, they 
agreed that five should be chosen." And five were 
accordingly chosen, 

" It was then considered, for how long to adjourn 
the house, and it was thought fit to adjourn till the 
eighth of February following." 

" And because the court was to be held in the 
mean-time, that is to say, on the third of February, 
that therefore, the privilege of parliament should be 
void until the court were past, and all freemen 
might be arrested, as if no assembly wer^ And 
so the house broke up." 

The interval of ten days, for the committee to 
prepare the draughts of new laws, being elapsed, 
the assembly met again on the eightii of February, 
according to their adjournment. The committee, 
it seems, had, during this interval, prq^ared a new 
set of laws to be enacted by the assembly, and to 
be sent to the lord Baltimore ; but it appears also, 
that upon consultation during tliis short recess, it 

* It appears from subsequent proceedings of the house, that 
the word " committees," here meant the members composing 
a committee. It was a phraseology in use at that time. See 
Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 410, 428. 



316 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, was thought proper to propose again, the laws sent . 
^^^^y^y,^ in by the lord proprietor. l 

1538. " The committee reported to the house, that they 
^it inTy thought fit to read the former draught of laws again, 
the pro- and to put them to the vote the second time, in re- 

pnetor '■ 

again pro- gard there was found a great deal of misunderstand- 
r^ected" ing of them among die freemen, which made them 
to refuse them. 

" And it being put to the vote of the house, 
whether +hey should be read again, or not, was 
affirmed by forty-eight voices, and denied by twenty- 
one voices. 

" Then was an order made, by general consent 
of the house, that all bills propounded to the house 
for laAvs, should be read three times, on three seve- 
ral days, before they should be put to the vote." 

" Then was the draught of laws read through the 
second time, and twenty bills propounded by the 
committee, were read the first time.* 

" Captain Cornwaleys desired it might be put to 
the vote of the house, whether these lawsf at the 
third reading, should be voted severally, (yr the whole 
body of them together. 

" And that they should be voted altogether, was 
affirmed by thirty-two voices, and denied by thirty- 
seven." 

This last vote seemed preparatorj^' to a total re- 
jection of them. The house upon this adjourned, 

• The draught of laws to be read the second time, must 
have been the laws sent in by the proprietor ; and the twenty 
bills, those prepared by the committee. 

t Viz. those sent in by the lord proprietor. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 317 

(probably for dinner,) and met again in the after- chap. 
noon of the same day. s.^-v-^w 

" The house being sat, the president declared i638. 
that he thought it fitting to adjourn the house for a 
longer time, till the laws, which they would pro- 
pound to the lord proprietor, were made ready, 
which some would take care of, and in the mean- 
time the company might attend their other busi- 
ness. 

" Captain Cornwaleys replied, they could not 
spend their time in any business better than in this 
for the country's good ; and one of the planters de- 
manded the reason why it should be adjourned, and 
said they were willing to leave their other business, 
to attend to it. The president replied, he would be 
accountable to no man for his adjourning of it. 

" Then captain Cornwaleys moved, that at least 
a committee might be appointed, that should take 
charge of preparing the laws till the house met 
again ; and it being put to the house, they agreed 
that tliree committees* should be appointed. Then 
every one nominating severally his three commit- 
tees, the president had forty-six voices, captain 
Cornwaleys had fifty-six, captain Evelin forty-four, 
Mr. Lewger thirty-one, Mr. Snow five, and captain 
Fleete four. 

" Then was it ordered, that privilege of parlia- 
ment-men for their persons, should not be allowed 
till the next meeting of the assembly. 

*' Then the president adjourned the house till the 
twenty-sixth day of February.'* 

• Three members of a committee, as before. 



518 HISTORY OF MARYLANb. 

CHAP. From what fell from captain Cornwaleys, in the 
y^^^,.^^ foregoing proceedings, in his proposition for adopt- 
1638. ing the laws of England, it might be inferred, that 
the laws of England had never yet been put in 
■practice among the colonists, although full three 
years had elapsed since their first settlement at St. 
Mary's. It must be confessed, that this observa- 
tion of his, cannot at this day be easily accounted 
for, since it is certain, that the earliest records of 
the province seem all to indicate, that the whole of 
their proceedings, both legislative and judicial, were 
conducted according to those laws, except, as ob- 
served in the house of assembly, " where life or 
member was to be aflfected." Indeed, the subject 
that so often occurs on the little journal of the 
house, before quoted, as to ** privilege of parlia- 
ment," in exempting the members of the house 
from arrest, presupposes the common law of Eng- 
land as to this purpose in force ; for, if there were 
no local laws of the province^ nor any common law^ 
from whence could this privilege arise ? We are, 
therefore, to construe Mr. Cornwaleys' proposition 
to this effect : that the laws of England, so far as 
they were applicable to the local circumstances of 
the colonists, were to be continued to be used and 
practised by them ; and that a legislative declaration 
to that purpose, should be made. 
Courts of ^^^ confirmation of this construction of the fore- 
justice going proposition, we are to observe, that in a few 
days after the assembly rose, courts of justice were 
held at St. Mary's, in which the proceedings appear 
to have been in exact conformity to those laws. A 
court " for testamentary causes," composed of the 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 319 

governour and council, was held on the 12th of chap. 
February ; in which letters of administration were y.^,-v^-,^^ 
granted on the estates of divers deceased persons, 1638 
and proceedings had, as in the same kind of courts 
in England. On the same, or the succeeding day, 
a court, called in the records, a county-court^ was 
holden before the lieutenant-general, captain Robert 
Wintour, and Mr. John Lewger ; at which a grand 
jur}-^ were impanelled and sworn, and two bills of 
indictment for piracy and murder, were sent up to 
them, and found true bills. These indictments ap- pro- 
pear to have been drawn according to English pre- thereilf^ 
cedents, and the technical phraseology used in them p^,^'"^^ 
according to the established practice of the criminal bome's 
laws of England. As these indictments, which have ^^ ^ 
been before alluded to, related to those political in- 
cidents of the province occasioned by Clayborne's 
resistance to the lord proprietor's right and autho- 
rity over the isle of Kent, some more particular no- 
tice of them will be necessar}'. 

The first of these indictments charges : " Let 
kiquest be made for the lord proprietor, if in the 
river Pocomoque, on the eastern shore, on the 
twenty-third day of April, in the year 1635, Tho- 
mas Coniwaleys, esq. one of the commissioners of 
this province with divers other persons of the com- 
pany and servants of the said Thomas Cornwaleys, 
being in two pinnaces, called the St. Helen and the 
St. Margaret, in the peace, &c. RatclifT Warren, 
commonly known by the name of lieutenant War- 
ren, Richard ,* and Robert Lake, with divers 

• The surname here in the record is not legible 



320 HISTORY OF MARYLANF. 

CHAP. Others, to the number of fourteen persons, or there. 
.^^^^^r>^ abouts, &c. in one pinnace belonging to William 
163a Clayborne, of the isle of Kent, gentleman, with force 
and arms, &c. on the day aforesaid, in the place 
aforesaid, upon the two pinnaces aforesaid, feloni- 
ously, and as pirates and robbers, an assault did 
make, and upon the said Thomas Cornwaleys and 
his company, divers guns charged with powder and 
bullets, did shoot and discharge, &c. and one Wil- 
liam Ashmore, of St. Mary's, apprentice in the pin- 
nace aforesaid, the day and year aforesaid, at the 
place aforesaid, did shoot and wound in the breast, 
on tlic left side, near the left papp, of which wound 
the said 'William Ashmore instantly died ; and if 
the said Wiilium Claybonie did encourage and in- 
stigate, and abet the said lieutenant W^arren, to 
make and attempt the said assault upon the pinnace 
aforesaid, or upon any other, the pinnaces, boats, or 
vessels belonging to St. Mary's ; and if the said 
William Clayborne did, by a special warrant or 
commission, under his hand, command, warrant, 
and authorise the said lieutenant Warren, to seize, 
take, and carry away the pinnaces or other vessels 
belonging to St. Mary's, contrary to the peace ()f 
the sovereign lord the king, his crown and dignity, 
and contrary- to the peace of the said lord proprietor, 
his domination and dignity." 

The other indictment is against Thomas Smith, 
gentleman, and three other persons, planters, for the 
murder of the same William Ashmore, and is in 
other respects, the same as the former indictment, 
totidem verbis^ except as to time and place, as fol- 
lows : " Let inquest, &c. if in the harbour of great 



HISTORY OF :\IARYLAND. 32t 

Wiggomoco, in the bay of Chesapeak, on the tenth chap. 
day of May, in the year of our Lord 1635, Thomas ^^^^.^^ 
Cornvvaleys, esq. one of the commissioners of the 1638. 
province, Cuthbert Hemirk, and John Hollis, ser- 
vants of the said Thomas Cornwaleys, being in the 
good pinnace called the St. Margaret, in the peace, 
&c. Thomas Smith, of the isle commonly called 
Kent, gentleman, Philip Tailor, Thomas Duffil, and 

Richard ,* planters, together with divers others, 

to the number of fourteen persons, or thereabouts," 
&c. and so on, the same as the former indictment, 
charging William Claybome also, as accessary be- 
fore the fact, in the manner as before. 

On account of the deficiency in the laws, and the 
exception in the lieutenant-general's commission, 
before-mentioned, so that no capital punishment 
could be adjudged by any court of the province 
then existing, the trials on these indictments were 
postponed until the next meeting of the assembly. 

Notwithstanding these proceedings, and although The inha- 
Clayborne had, before this, departed for England, the' isie of 
yet it seems, that the inhabitants of the isle of Kent J^^"\o^" 
were far from being at this time quiet and obedient submit. 
to the lord proprietor's government. The authority 
of the provincial government, was yet so openly 
contemned and resisted, by many of the inhabitants 
of that island, as to render it necessary for the go- 
vernour to proceed thither with an armed force, to 
quell and punish the refractory and disobedient. 
We find in the records of the " Council Proceed- 
ings" of this period, an entry explanatory of the 

• The Eurname here in the record is not legible. 

2 s 



2'i HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, reasons and causes of this measure of the govem- 
. ment. 



1638. " By the govemour and council, this 12th of Fe- 
^"^^^'r , bruarv, 1637," (1638, new style.) 

nour Gal- • ' ' ^ ' . . 

vert pro- " The ffovcmour and council, taking into consi- 

teeds . ^ . . . 1 . . . 

with a deration the many piracies, msclencies, mutinies, 
^urcT'^ and contempts of the government of this province, 
thcm^^ formerly committed by divers of the inhabitants of 
the isle of Kent, and that the warrants sent lately 
into the said island, under the great seal of the pro- 
vince, for apprehending some malefactors, and to 
compel others to answer their creditors in their law- 
ful suits of debt or accompt, were disobeyed and con- 
temned, and the prisoners rescued out of the officer's 
hands, by open force and arms ; and being now ne\vly 
informed, that divers of them do maintain and pro- 
tect themselves in their said unlawful and rebellious 
acts, did practice and conspire with the Susquiha- 
noughs and other Indians, against the inhabitants of 
this colony, have thought it fit, that the governour 
should sail, in person, to the said isle of Kent, and 
take along with him a sufficient number of fieemen, 
well armed, and there, by martial laWy (if it shall be 
necessar}',) reduce the inhabitants of the said island 
to their due obedience to the lord proprietor, and by 
death, (if need be,) coiTect mutinous and seditious 
offenders, who shall not, (after proclamation made,) 
submit themselves to a due course of justice ; and 
for his better, assistance herein, it was thought fit, 
and so ordered, that captain Thomas Cornwaleys, 
esquire, and one of the council of this province, 
should go along with the governour, and be aiding 
itfid assisting to him, to the uttermost of his power, 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 32 ^ 

for the command of the forces, according to such chap. 
directions as he shall receive from the governour v.„^-v->^ 
during the expedition. ^^js. 

Signed, LEONARD CALVERT, 

JEROME HAWLEY, 
JOHN LEWGER."* 

Preparator}^ also, to this expedition, the governour secicary 
issued his proclamation, reciting, that " whereas this ^utT/oH- 
present general assembly, begun on the 25th day ^^^^^°^^ 
January, last past, and by several adjournments, con- assembly. 
tinned until the 8th of this instant month of Februa* 
ry, was then adjourned until the 26th of this instant 
month, now designing at this present, to make an 
expedition in person, unto the isle of Kent, and 
doubting, lest some accident might hinder my re- 
turn to St. Mary's, afore the said day, whereby the 
assciiibly would of itself be dissolved, for want of 
power to assemble ; know ye, therefore, that in case 
of such my absence, I have authorised and deputed 
Mr. John Lewger secretary, in my name and place, 
to hold and convene the said assembly, at the day 
appointed, and to give voice for me, to all such 
things as he shall think fit, also to adjourn or dis- 
solve the said assembly, and to do all things in my 
stead, &c. 

LEONARD CALVERT." 

During the govcrnour's absence from St. Mary's, 
the assembly met on the 26th of February, 1637, 
(1638, new style,) according to adjournment. But, 

• See the Provincial Records, entitled " Cotirttfil Proceed- 
ings, from 1636 to 1657," p. 56, 37. 



S24> HISTORY OF MAnVLAND, 

CHAP, after ordering " that privilege of parliament be sus- 
^^^,„rv->^ pended till the next meeting," the house was ad- 
1638. journed till the 5th of Miirch next. 

The house met on the 5th of March, according 
to their last adjournment ; but, the governour being 
still absent, " Mr. Secretary adjourned the house 
till the 12th of March following." 

" And the house ordered that privilege of parlia- 
ment should be suspended till the next meeting." 

The house met on the 12th of March, according 
to their adjournment; and the governour, being now 
returned, was present, and presided as speaker. 

" Privilege of parliament was affirmed ;" and the 
twenty bills draughted by the committee, which 
were formerly read, at the session on the eighth of 
February, were now read a second time. 

The house meeting again on the next day, (the 

13th of March,) fourteen other bills were then read 

for the first time. 

Act of at. Which bills were again read on the succeeding 

^S <iay» (the 14th of March,) together with three other 

Wiihaoa i^jjjs fQj. ti^e f^j-g^ ^\Yae ; one of which last was " for 

Clay- _ ... 

borne. the attainder of William Clayborne, gentleman," 

The reader will observe, that Clayborne was 
charged as an accessary before the fact, to the mur- 
der and piracy, as stated in the bills of indictment, 
before-mentioned, found by the grand jury. On 
account of the deficiency of the laws, as before stat- 
ed, the intervention of the legislature was deemed 
necessary, against both Clayborne and Smith. The 
former not being taken, the proceeding against him 
was by a bill of ittainder ; by which, his property 
within the province, became forfeited to the lord 



HISTORY OF MARYLANUi 325 

proprietor. The latter being stili held as a prisoner, chap. 
he was, in the afternoon of this day, (the 14th oi^^^^^^.^^ 
March,) arraigned and tried before the house, sitting it3o». 
as a court of justice. As the proceedings of a le- 
gislature, (under the degree of a house of lords,) 
acting in a judicial capacity, were at this time un- 
common, it is thought that an insertion of them 
here, as they appear on the records, will not be 
deemed improj^er. 

" Then was Thomas Smith called to the bar, be- Trial of 

. 1 1% «^ o 1 Thomas 

mg indicted of piracy, and Mr. Secretary made smith, 
himself attorney for the lord proprietor, and readJ'J^y" 
his lordship's warrant in that behalf. Then did the ^^^f^ 
attorney put in the indictment, and demanded that 
the prisoner might be arraigned upon his indict- 
ment ; and the indictment being read, he pleaded 
Not guilty. 

" Then did the attorney inform the house upon 
the indictment, and produced the depositions of 
John Tarbison and Arthur Brooks; and the prisoner 
pleaded all he had to say in his defence, and the at- 
torney replied to it : and when the prisoner had no 
more to allege for himself, he was demanded whe- 
ther he would challenge any in the house that were 
to pass upon him, and he challenged none ; then 
they gave their votes, and he was found guilty by 
all the members except one.* 

" Then was sentence pronounced by the presi- 

• The name of this dissentient member, as it is in the re- 
cord, is not easily legible ; but it appears to be John Halfc- 
hide. 



3ia mstORY or >L\RHAKi>: 

CHAP, dent, in the name of all the freemen, in these | 
^^^^^.^-^ words : 
1638. « Thomas Smith, you have been indicted for fe. 
lony and piracy ; to your indictment, you have 
pleaded not guilty, and you have been tried by the 
freemen in this general assembly, who have found 
you guilty, and pronounce this sentence upon you, 
that you shall be carried from hence to the place 
whence you came, and thence to the place of exe- 
cution, and shall there be lianged by the neck till 
you be dead, and that all your lands, goods, and 
chattels shall be forfeited to the lord proprietor, sa- 
ving that your wife shall ha^'e her dower, and God 
have mercy upon your soul. 

" Judgment affirmed and approved by special con- 
sent, by word of mouth, by captain Cornwaleys,** 
and others (named in the record) sixteen in number.* 
" Then did the prisoner demand his clergy ; but 
it was answered by the president that clergy could 
not be allowed in his crime, and if it might, yet 
now it was demanded too late after judgment." 
Inquiry by It Will be recollcctcd, that in the rencounter be- 
biytnto™ tween captain Cornwaleys and his company with 
duct of Claybome's men before- mentioned, several persons 
captain ©f the latter party were said to have been killed bv 

Cornwa- ... 

leys. the fire of Comwaleys's men in resisting the attack 
upon them first made by ClaybwTje^s piirty, as 
alleged by those of Cornwaleys. It was, therefore, 
deemed necessary by the house, that inquiry should 

* By this the whole house of assembly mint at this time 
have consisted of seventeen members, incJuding John Halfe- 
hide the dissentient. ;. -j^j }q ya^i^mop ?fi b^T ? {jL - 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 32 f 

be made by them of these facts; and their proceed- chap. 
ings thereon, appear upon the records to have been s^^-w^^^ 
as follows ; ^"^^ 

" Then departed out of the house, captain Corn- 
waleys, Cuthbert Fennick, William Lewis, John 
Nevill, Anthony Cotton, Edwaixi Fleete, and Cy* 
prian Thoroughgood. 

" Then was the house moved by the attorney to 
inquire of the death of William Ashmore, Ratcliff 
Warren, John Bellson, and William Dawson, and 
the house having heard the evidence of Cyprian 
Thorou^hgood, John Nevill, Cuthbert Fennick, and 
Edv/ard Fleete did find that the said RatclifFe War- 
ren, John Bellson, and William Dawson, with di- 
vers others, did assault the vessel of captain Corn- 
waleys and his company, feloniously and as pirates 
and robbers to take the said vessel, and did discharge 
divers pieces charged with bullett and shott against 
die said Thomas Cornwaleys and his company, 
whereupon and after such assault made, the said 
Thomas Cornwaleys and his company in defence 
of themselves and safeguard of their li\'es, not be- 
ing able to fly further from them, after warning 
given to the assailants to desist from assaulting 
them at their own peril, did discharge some guns 
upon the said RatclifF and his company, of which 
shots the said RatclifF Warren, John Bellson, and 
William Dawson died, and so they find that the 
said Thomas Cornwaleys and his company did law- 
fully, and in their own necessar)' defence kill the 
said RatclifF Warren, John Bellson, and William 
Dawson, and do acquit the said Thomas Com- 
waleys and his company of the death cf the said 



328 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.' 

CHAP. Ratcliff Warren, John Bellson, and William Daw, 
I. 
s,^-vr>^ son. 

1638. " And tliey further find, that the said Ratcliff 
Warren and his company did discharge their guns 
against the said Thomas Cornwaleys and his com- 
pany, and did kill the said William Ashmore, being 
one of the company of the said Thomas Cornwa- 
leys, as felons, pirates, and murderers." 

That the assumption of judicial power by the 
house of assembly at this time, was not confined to 
Smith's case, appears from the journal of the house 
for the succeeding day, (the 15th of March,) where 
an entry appears of the following purport: " Then 
\\ as fined to the lord proprietor Thomas Baldridge, 
40 lb tobo- for striking John Edwards." It is true 
that this might have arisen from the fact being per- 
petrated in the presence of the house, on which oc- 
casion, by the law of parliament, they would have 
had power to impose the punishment of imprison- 
ment as for a contempt; but the journal does not au- 
thorise this supposition of the circumstances of the 
fact. 
Resoiu. Another entry on the journals of the house, of 
thTasscm-the 17th of March, may perhaps be deemed wor- 
JSefJ'ser. ^hy of noticc, as tracing a feature of the early ha- 
vunts. |-jj^g^ manners, and customs of our ancestors — 
" Then upon a question moved touching the rest- 
ing of servants on Saturdays in the afternoon, it 
was declared by the house that no such custom was 
to be allowed." It may be remarked, that not with -^ 
standing this declaration of the legislature, the cus- 
tom has in some measure, '^^ven ^vith slaves, pre- 
vailed throughout the province. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 5.29 

On the last day of the session, (March 24th), chap. 
which according to old style, was the last day »^,^v-nJ 
of the year 1637, the several bills which had been i63b. 
prepared to be ])assed by the house were now " fair- Jjj,^,f * 
ly ingrossed and read, and after the reading of them dibsohcd. 
the governour signed them, and so did the rest of 
the house. And so the house dissolved." 

However beneficial and necessary for the province The lord 

proprietor 

those laws now enacted by the assembly, and assent- refuses lus 
ed to by the governour, might have been, yet it the laws 
seems when they were sent to England and pro- ^"''J'hJ^'^as. 
pounded to the lord proprietor for his assent, hescmbiy, 
thought it proper to reject them. Of his reasons for 
so doing, we are nowhere positively inibrmed; but 
the same conjecture we have before ventured may 
be again hazarded ; — that he had resolved to retain 
the right of first propounding the laws to be enact- 
ed by any assembly of his province. Although a 
complete list of the titles of these laws remains 
upon our records, yet the laws themselves at large 
are not extant, no copies of them appearing upon 
our records.* Many of these laws were, probabl}-, 
afterwards reenacted under the same or similar titles. 
The contents of some of them, however, to ^vhich 
we do not find subsequently any with titles similar, 
would interest our curiosity even at this day, parti- 
cularly the first on the list, entitled, " A Bill for di- 

* See a complete list of them published in Bacon's edition 
of the Laws of Maryland, 1537, where it is said, "They 
■were never enacted into laws ;" meaning, without doubt, for 
want of the lord proprietor's assent to them ; " nor are any 
copies of them, or of those sent in by his lordship to be found 
in our records^ 



aSO HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

crtAP. vidiiig of the province." From the titles of several 
^^,-^,^,,^^ bills immediately following, relative to manors, and 
1638. one entitled, " A Bill for Baronies," we are induced 
to suppose, that besides the division of the province 
into counties, a further division of the same was con- 
templated into baronies and manors, with their 
feudal appendages of courts-baron and courts-leet. 
This may, probably, have been the cause of its 
being stated by some writers, that the province 
was originally divided into bcironies and manors. 
Although many manors were subsequently laid out 
and granted to individuals, yet it does not appear, 
that this division of the province into baronies, (at 
least in the feudal sense of the word, was ever car- 
ried into effect; for we are told that " no grant of a 
barony is to be found on record."* 
William Claybomc having been sent to England by the 
borne's govcrnour of Virginia, after the military outrage 
the'kin^in committed by his men, through his orders, on the 
council, Maryland colonists, as before-mentioned, he pre- 

»nd order ^ . , ^ *■ 

ihereup- ferrcd a petition to the king, in order to obtain re- 
dress of the " wrongs and injuries," which he had 
sustained, as he alleged. A ver\' imperfect copy 
of this petition appears among the earliest docu- 
ments of our Provincial Records,! with intervening 
blanks therein, which render it in some places al- 
most unintelligible. The tenor and substance of 
it is, however, as follows: 

" The petition of captain William Clay borne, on 



* See Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, p. 93. Also note(V) 
at the end of this volume. 

+ " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 16a7," p. 4. 



on, 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 3Jil 

the behalf of himself and partners, to the king, chap. 
showing — that the petitioners, by virtue of a com- ^^-v^-.^^ 
mission under his majesty's hand, &c. divers years losa 
past, discovered, and did then plant upon an island 
in the great bay of Chesapeak, in Virginia, by them 
named the isle of Kent, which they bought of the 
kings of that country, and built houses^ transported 
cattle, and settled people thereon, to their very great 
costs and charges ; which the lord Baltimore taking 
notice thereof, and the great hopes for trade of bea. 
vers and other commodities, like to ensue by the 
petitioners' discoveries, hath since obtained a patent 
from your majesty, comprehending the said island 
within the limits thereof, and sought thereby to dis. 
possess the petitioners thereof, and debar them of 
their discovery, &c.; complaint thereof being made, 
your majesty was pleased to signify your royal plea- 
sure by letter, intimating that it was contrary to jus- 
tice, and the true intent of your majesty's grant to 

the said lord , — that notwithstanding the said 

patent, the petitioners should have Jreedom oftrade^ 
requiring the governour, and all others in Vir- 
ginia, to be aiding and assisting unto them, prohi- 
biting the lord Baltimore and all other pretenders 
(under) him, to offer them any violence, or to dis- 
turb or molest them in their and plantation, 

as by your majesty's letter annexed appeareth, — 
since which — — * be it your — majesty's said 
royal pleasure hath been made known to Sir 



* These blank spaces are so in the record. In this place it 
may be supposed, that the obsolete adverb, "allbeit," was in- 
tended, which is synonymous to the word " although.*' 



332 ' HISTORY OT MARYLAND. 



I. 



CHAP. ,* govemoiir of Virginia, (who slighted the 

same,) as also to the lord Baltimore ageiitg 

1638. there ; yet they have in a most wilful and contemp- 
tuous manner, disobeyed the same, and violently 

set upon your petitioners' pinnaces and boats 

goods to ti'ade, and seized them, and do still detain 

the same by the ■ , of which pinnaces and goods 

the inhabitants within the said isle were so 

great famine and misery, as they became utterly 

destitute of any corn sustain themselves, which 

enforced them to send a small boat ► why they 

obeyed not your majesty's said royal letters and 

commands the said pinnaces and goods to en- 

able them to trade for coni-seed boat approach- 
ing near unto some vessel of the said lord Balti- 
tTT^ore's agents, they shot among the petition- 
ers' men and slew three of them and more ; and 

fiot content with these great injuries, the said lord 
Baltimore and his agents, have openly defamed and 

unjustly accused the petitioners of crimes, to 

his exceeding great grief, which hath caused him 

purposely pairf into this kingdom, and humbly 

prostrates himself and his cause majesty's feet, 

to be relieved therein. 

" And the petitioner having likewise discovered 

plantation and factor}^, upon a small island, in 

the mouth of a river, at the bottom of the said bay, 



* This must mean Sir John Hcrvey ; for Sir JVilliam 
Berkeley, his successor, was not appointed governour of Vir- 
ginia until the year lv339. 

t Probably intended for the words, " purposely to repair 
into," Sec 



HISTORY OF 1MARY1.AND. 333 

in the Susquehannock's country, at the Indians dc- ch\p. 
sire, and purchased the same of them ; by means ^..^^i-,^ 
whereof, they are in great hopes to draw thither the i'>38. 
trade of beavers and furs, which the French now 
wholly enjoy, in the grand Lake of Canada, which 
may prove very beneficial to your majesty and the 
commonwealth; but, by letter sent him thenceforth, 
your petitioner is advised, that the lord Baltimore's 
agents are gone with forty men, to supplant the pe- 
titioners' said plantations, and to take possesssion 
thereof, and seat themselves thereon. 

" And the petitioner being desirous to propose a 
way, whereby your majesty may receive to the 
crown for plantations, an annual benefit, (and) be 
certain to enjoy the same, with the fruits of their 
labours, they do offer unto your majesty 100/. per 
annum, viz. 50/. for the said isle of Kent, and 50/. 
for the said plantation, in the Susquehannock's 
countiy, to have there twelve leagues of land, &c. 
from the mouth of the said river, on each side 
thereof, down to the said bay southerly, to the sea- 
wai'd, and so to the head of the said river, and to the 
grand Lake of Canada ; to be held in fee from the 
crown of England, and to be yearly paid into your 
majesty's exchequer ; to be governed according to the 
laws of England, with such privileges as your ma- 
jesty shall please to grant : by which means, your 
majesty may raise a great revenue annually, and all 
planters will be encouraged to proceed cheerfully 
on their designs. 

" And the petitioners having now a ship ready to 
depart, with goods and people, for the prosecuting 
and managing of their said discoveries and trade, 



SH JUStORY OF MARYIANIJ. 

CHAP, which without speedy supply, and your majesty's 
s^''^r>^ favour, &c. is like to come to ruin, — 
163&. « May it therefore please your majesty, to grant 
a confirmation of your majesty's said commission 
and letter under your majesty's broad seal, for the 
quiet enjoyment of the said plantations, &c. to send 
now with the said ship ; and to refer the speedy ex- 
amination of the said WTongs and injuries, unto 
whom your majesty shall please to think fit, to cer- 
tify your majesty thereof, and that your petitioner 
may proceed without interruption of the lord Balti- 
more's agents," Sec. 

Immediately following the foregoing petition, 
there appears on the provincial records, the follow- 
ing entry, which is probably a copy from the pro- 
ceedings of the privy council in England, relative 
to the same : ^ 

" At the court at Newmarket, the 26th of February, 

1637,"(1638, N. S.) 

" His majesty approved the proposals made in 
the foregoing petition, and confirmed what was con- 
tained in his former condition and letter under the 
broad seal ; and to that end, referreth to the lord 
archbishop of Canterbury, lord keeper, lord privy 
seal, and any other the commissioners for planta- 
tions, who shall be near at hand, &c, and with Mr, 
Attorney's advice, to prepare a grant for the king's 
signature. The said lords were also to examine 
the wrongs complained of, and certify his majesty 
accordingly, 

" The lords accordingly appoint a day for the 
hearing of this businees at the council board, and 



HISTORY OP MARYLAND. 3^5 

direct notice thereof to be given to the lord Balti- chap. 
more, to be heard by himself or council. Signed, ^.^-v^^^^ 
Wm. Cant, Tho. Coventry, W. Manchester.'* i638. 

The following order in council appears to be the 
result of the foregoing proceedings : 

« At Whitehall, the fourth of April, 1638. 

" Present, lord archbishop of Canterbury, lord 
keeper, lord treasurer, lord privy seal, earl Marshall^ 
eai'l of Dorset, lord Cottington, Mr. Treasurer, Mr. 
Comptroller, Mr. Secretary Cooke, Mr. Secretary 
Windebank. 

" Whereas a petition was presented to his ma- 
jesty, by captain William Claybome, on the behalf 
of himself and partners, showing, that by virtue of 
a commission under his majesty's hand and signet, 
they, divers years past, discovered, and planted 
upon an island in the great bay of Chesapeak, in 
Virginia, named by them, the isle of Kent, where- 
upon (they pretended) they had bestowed great 
charges ; and that the lord Baltimore (as they al- 
leged,) taking notice of the great benefit that was 
likely to arise to them thereby, obtained a patent 
from his majesty, comprehending the said island 
within the limits thereof; and that they had likewise 
settled another plantation upon the mouth of a river, 
in the bottom of the said bay, in the Susquehannah*s 
country, which the said lord Baltimore's agent thefe 
(as they allege,) sought to dispossess them of, pre- 
tending likewise, great injuries and violence offered 
to them in their trade and possessions in those parts 
by the said agent, in killing some of the siiid cap- 
tain Clay home's men ; takbig their boats coatrarv 



336 HISTORY OP MAKYLAND; 

CHAP, to the said commission and express words of a let- 
^^^,.^,1^^^ ter from his majesty, under his hand and signet ; 
1638. and therefore, besought his majesty to grant unto 
the petitioner a confirmation, under the great seal, 
of his majesty's said commission and letter, for the 
quiet keeping, enjoying, and governing of the said 
islands, plantation, and people, with other addita- 
ments of lands and immunities in those parts ; and 
likewise, that his majesty would refer the examina- 
tion of the said wrongs and injuries, to such as his 
majesty should think fit, as by the said petition 
more at large appeareth. Forasmuch as his majesty 
was pleased, at New Market, the twenty-sixth of 
February, 1637, to refer the consideration of the pe- 
titioner's request unto the lord archbishop of Can- 
terbury, the lord keeper, the lord privy seal, and any 
other the commissioners for plantations, who should 
be near at hand, and whom they pleased to call, and 
withal to advise with Mr. Attorney-general, for the 
preparing and settling the grant desired, for his ma- 
jesty's signature, and to examine the Avrongs com- 
plained of, and certify his majesty what they thought 
fit to be done for redress thereof: whereupon, all 
parties attending their lordships this day, with their 
counsel learned, and being fully heard, the said 
commission and letter being likewise read, it ap- 
peared clearly to their lordships, and was confessed 
by the said Clay borne himself, then present, that 
the said isle of Kent is within the bounds and limits 
of the said lord Baltimore's patent ; and the said cap- 
tain Clayborne's commission, (as it likewise appear- 
ed,) was only a license under the signet of Scotland, 
to trade with tlie Indians of America, in such places 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 337 

where the said trade had not been formerly granted chap. 
by his majesty to any other; which commission, v.^r-vr>,^ 
their lordships declared, did not extend, nor give 1638. 
any warrant to the said Clay borne, or any other; 
nor had they iiiy right or title thereby to the said 
isle of Kent, or to plant or trade there, or in any other 
parts or places, with the Indians or savages within 
the precincts of the lord Baltimore's patent; and 
their lordships did likewise declai'e, that the afore- 
said letter, under his majesty's signature, which had 
reference to the said commission, under the signet 
of Scotland, was grounded upon misinformation, 
by supposing that the said commission warranted 
the plantation in the isle of Kent, which (as now 
appears) it did not. Whereupon, as also upon con- 
sideration of a former order of this board of the 
third of July, 1633,* wherein " it appeared, that 
the difference now in question being controverted, 
the lord Baltimore was left to the right of his patent, 
and the petitioners to the course of law, their lord- 
ships having resolved and declared as aforesaid, the 
right and title to the isle of Kent, and other places 
in question, to be absolutely belonging to the lord 
Baltimore, and that no plantation or trade with the 
Indians ought to be within the precincts of his pa- 
tent, without license from him, did therefore like- 
wise think fit and declare, that no grant should pass 
to the said Clayborne or any others, of the said isle 
of Kent, or other parts or places within the said pa- 
tent; whereof his majesty's attorney and solicitor- 
general are hereby prayed to take notice; and con- 

* See the order in note (S) at the end of this vohime, 
- 2 IT 



338 mSTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, ccrning the violences and wrongs, by the said Clay- 

.^^^^^^ borne and the rest complained of in the said petition 

1638. to his majesty, their lordships did now also declare, 

that they found no cause at all relative thereto, but 

do leave both sides therein to the ofdinary course of 

justice. 

Ext. T. Meantys."* 

Notwithstanding the apparent authenticity of the 
foregoing documents, the reader is to be informed, 
that it has been utterly denied, that any such pro- 
ceedings or order in council ever existed. In the 
bill in chancery, before- cited, filed by the Penns 
against the then lord Baltimore, in the year 1735, 
to compel a specific performance of an agreement 
then before entered into between these two proprie- 
tiiries, relative to the bounds of their respective 
provinces, it is stated that shortly after Mr. Wil- 
liam Penn had obtained his patent for Pennsylva- 
nia, which was in the year 1681, (1682, N. S.) he 
also purchased of the duke of York, (afterwards 
James II,) the three Lower Counties, (now Dela- 
ware state,) and that a controversy arising there- 
upon, between these two proprietaries, concerning 
the bounds of the province of Maryland, on the 
side next to those Counties, the lord Baltimore 
(Charles, son and heir of Cecilius,) preferred his 
petition to the king in council concerning the same, 
which petition was, some time in May, 1683, 
" referred to the consideration of the then commit- 

* " Council Proceedings from 1636 to 1657," p. 8. This 
order in council is also inserted at large in Hazard's Collec- 
tions, Vol. 1, p. 430. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND, 33,9 

tee of trade and foreign plantations, (which com- chap. 
mittee did then consist of lords of his majesty's ^^y^r^j 
most honourable privy-council,) and before the said i638. 
committee, the said lord Bahimore and your ora- 
tor's father (William Penn) and their counsel learn- 
ed in the law, were many and divers times heard 
for near two years and a half together, and a very 
long suit and trial were had thereon between your 
orator's said father and the then lord Baltimore, 
touching the right and title to the said land and soil 
of the said three Lower Counties." The bill then 
proceeds, after stating the order in council there- 
upon, (which was, in substance, to divide the pe- 
ninsula between them) to a distinct allegation rela- 
tive to the foregoing order in council of 1638, on 
Clayborne's petition, as follows: " And your ora- 
tors further show unto your lordship, that during 
the said contest in the years 1683, 1684, and 1685, 
the said then lord Baltimore, upon the eighth of 
October, 1685, produced to the then committee 
of trade and plantations, in order to serve himself, 
an unauthentic, blank, fictitious paper, not pre- 
tended to be signed or sealed at all, but drawn up 
in the form of the draft of a report and order of the 
committee of foreign plantations, and supposed to 
be made on the fourth of April, 1638, touching 
differences between some lord Baltimore and one 
Mr. Claybome about the isle of Kent, in order to 
show that former boards' pretended opinion touching 
the lord Baltimore's right to the isle of Kent, and 
the then said committee of trade and plantations in 
1685, put off the matter, and gave the said lord 
Baltimore time to procure an attested copy of such 



340 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, pretended report or order in 1638, which the said 
v__^^^,^^ lord Baltimore undertook to procure, but nine days 
1638. after the said lord Baltimore declared in person to 
the said committee of trade and plantations, name- 
ly on the 17th of October, 1685, that he could 
not find the original, whereby an attested copy 
might be procured, neither, as your orators charge, 
is there any authentic book or office where any ori- 
ginal or authentic copy may be found or had but 
the said blank paper was a mere fiction.''''* 

Unprovided as we are with any authority to dis- 
prove this allegation in the before-mentioned bill, 
and not being in possession of lord Baltimore's an- 
swer thereto, we are left to rest the authenticity of 
the proceedings and order in council of 1638, as 
before-stated, on that kind of evidence which de- 
pends upon concomitant circumstances. That 
Clayborne made resistance to lord Baltimore's pos- 
session of the isle of Kent ; that from superior mili- 
tary force he was obliged to fly to Virginia — that 
he was there demanded by commissioners from Ma- 
ryland — and that the governour of Virginia thought 
it proper to send him home to England for the in- 
vestigation of his rights and pretensions — all seem 
to be facts well authenticated by the historians of 
Virginia. There is every probable circumstance, 
therefore, to warrant the presumption, that he made 
the application by petition, as before-stated to the 
king in council for a redress of his wrongs. If then 
he did actually prefer his />e^zYwn before-mentioned, 
some proceedings must have been had upon it. If 

• Taken from a MS. copy of the bill in my possession. 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 341 



I. 

1638. 



the petition of Claybof^ne was heard, as befofe-sta- chap. 
ted, it is to be presumed that no order in council ^ 
thereupon ever took place in favour of his claim, or 
else he would immediately have availed himself of 
such order, by returning to the possession of his is- 
lands and settlements, and such order would have ap- 
peared in form. But this not being the case, and the 
order appearing of a directly opposite nature, there 
are strong grounds to suppose that such order was 
" authentic," although no original could be found, 
" whereby an attested copy could be procured." It is 
to be observed also, that the proceedings and order in 
council of 1638 as before stated, appear upon our ear- 
liest Provincial Records of Maryland. The question 
would naturally occur — how came they there if such 
proceedings and order were " a mere fiction?" It is 
to be presumed, that they were placed there shortly 
after they occurred, and long before the contest be- 
tween William Penn and lord Baltimore, in 1683. 
It- is worthy of remark also, that the copy of the 
same order, which Mr. Hazard has inserted in his 
Collections, purports to be from the " votes of 
assembly of Pennsylvania." The same question 
would here occur again. The confusion of the 
times, which shortly after the date of this order 
of 1638, ensued, by reason of the civil war m 
.England, might afford some grounds to account 
for the omission of recording it in the records of 
the council in England, or for the loss of the 
original ; or, if recorded there, for the loss of the 
roll. The signature annexed to it, as it now stands 
on our Provincial Records, to wit : " Ext. T. Me- 
antys," purports that the copy of it, there inserted, 



^42 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

CHAP, was extracted from some authentic document o\\ 
^^^.^,;,„^^ record, by *' T. Meantys," who was then "clerk 
1638. of the council, and attendant upon the said commis- 
sioners for foreign plantations," as is expressly men- 
tioned in a " letter" or order in council, made on the 
same day, by the same lords in council, relative to 
Massachusetts, and now published by Mr. Hazard 
in his Collections, immediately following the forego- 
ing order, relative to Clayborne's petition. To supr 
pose this order of 1638, to be " a mere fiction," we 
are driven to impute the basest fraud to Charles, 
lord Baltimore, or his agents, in 1683, contrary to 
every concomitant circumstance. On the contrary, 
if this insinuation in the bill, be destitute of any 
foundation, as it really appears to be, except in the 
circumstance of the loss of the original, the sugges- 
tion reflects something contrary to the principles of 
honour in the conduct, on this occasion, of either 
the Penns or their agents, in 1735 ; and however 
elevated in history, the character of lord Mansfield 
may be, yet, as Mr. Murray, their counsel on this 
occasion, in drawing this bill, he certainly transcend- 
ed the duty of an honourable advocate at the bar, in 
lending himself as the instrument of so false an im- 
putation. 

With respect to the equity of Clayborne's claim, 
and the justice of the foregoing decision of tlie 
*' commissioners for plantations" in 1638, the ques- 
tion seems to have been decided by the government 
of the United States since their independence. Con- 
gress have regulated by law, the trade and inter- 
course to be carried on by the citizens of the 
United States, with the several tribes or nations of 



HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 343 

Indian natives, resident within that part of the con- chap. 
tinent of America, which the United States claim as s.^^-v^^^^ 
their territories. They have enacted, that no per- i638. 
son shall trade with the Indians, without special 
license, obtained from the government of the United 
States for that purpose.* This is, without doubt, 
founded on good policy : it tends to prevent indivi- 
dual citizens, from acting in such manner with the 
savages, as to irritate and cause them to make at- 
tacks on the peaceable frontier settlers. These la\^is, 
moreover, forbid such traders from making pur- 
chases of lands from the Indians, the United States 
claiming that privilege alone, for the government, in 
its corporate capacity. Should any trader, there- 
fore, obtain by purchase or voluntary grant from 
the Indians, even as much land as would suffice for 
him to put a temporary trading-house thereon, and 
should occupy the same for several years, during 
his license for such trade, and the United States 
should " extinguish the Indian claim" to such lands, 
as included the trader's purchase ; or, (what in the 
opinion of some philanthropists amounts to the same 
thing,) take tl^ same lands from the Indians by 
force, and make sales and grants thereof, to such of 
their citizens as would purchase the same ; it is ap- 
prehended, that such licensed trader would not be 
admitted to contend, that he had bought his house 
and land from the Indians, and the United States 
had therefore, no right to sell or to give it away to 
any other citizen. He would probably be told, and 

• See the Acts of Congress of 1799, chap. 152 ; and ISOij 
chap. 43. 




;j44 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 

very properly too, that the United States being 
about to fix a colony or settlers in that part of their 
1638. territories, had made a grant of the same to a com- 
pany, who were about to settle thereon, and if he 
wished to possess any lands there, he must purchase 
of the government or of its grantees, like any other 
citizen, his purchase of the Indians being illegal and 
contrary to the true policy of the United States. 
Nay more, the president would be authorised by 
law to use imlitary force ^ in driving him from those 
lands, of which he had so possessed himself. Now 
this statement precisely comprehends Clayborne's 
right and claim. Although king Charles I, might 
have had no right to dispossess the Indian natives, 
of the country which they inhabited, yet he cer- 
tainly, as the representative of the nation of which 
he was the monarch, had as much right to the In- 
dian lands of America, as the government of the 
United States now have : his grants thereof were 
equally just, and therefore equally valid. The pre- 
tended or real purchase of an individual licensed 
trader^ (as Clayborne was,) of the Indian natives, 
could not, nor ought not to have precluded the king 
from making a grant thereof to a company, or to an 
individual possessing equal means, such as lord Bal- 
timore, who would undertake to transport thither, a 
numerous colony of his subjects, for the benefit of 
the mother country. The severance of a portion of 
the territory of Virginia, was really beneficial to that 
colony, inasmuch as the addition of such a number 
of their fellow- subjects, seated on their frontiers, 
would contribute nmch to their security from the 
hostile invasions of the savages. This benefit was 




HISTORY OF MARYLAND. 345 

not likel}' to arise from the manner in which Clay- 
borne, with his fellow-traders, were going on. 
The colonists of Virginia soon saw the matter in 1638. 
this point of view, being quickly reconciled, we are 
told, to this dismemberment of their territory. Thus 
it ^vGiild seem, that there was in reality no injustice 
done to any individual whatever, by the grant of the 
province of Maryland to lord Baltimore; and, if the 
policy of planting distant colonies is really beneficial 
to an over-populous country, and the measure be 
dictated also, by die liberal generosity of indulging 
mankind in their religious opinions, the unfortunate 
Charles may be said to have done one act, at least, 
in his life, with which posterity ought not to re- 
proacli him. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NOTE (A) p. 11. 

THE reader ought to be apprized, that no circumstance attending 
modern history has occasioned more anachronisms than the variation 
•f the commencement of the year in the computation of the Christian 
era. To this may be referred the difference of opinion among dif- 
ferent historians, not only as to the date of this commission to John 
CaBot, but as to the real date also of the voyage performed in conse- 
quence of it, either by him or his son Sebastian. 

Although the period of time denominated a year is founded in na- 
ture, being the measure of time while the earth is performing its an- 
nual revolution round the sun, and therefore can never vary, yet the 
commencement of that year, like a point in the periphery of a circle, 
may be arbitrarily fixed upon without aff'ecting its length or circumvo- 
lution. Hence different nations have fixed upon different periods of 
time for the commencement of their year, which has been commonly 
regulated by some remarkable event, from which as an epocha they 
compute their era. Agreeably to this, the Christian era is commonly- 
supposed to be computed from the first existence of Christ upon earth, 
that is, when God first assumed a mortal nature, whether that be at 
the time of his incarnathyi or nativity. But this mode of computation 
did not take place among the Christians until more than five hundred 
years had elapsed from that remarkable epocha. Prior to this time the 
generality of Christians computed, either from the building of Rome, 
or according to such other computation as was in use with the people 
among whom they lived ; if with the Jews from the creation of the 
world, or with the Greeks according to the Olympiads. But as the 
number of Christians had in the sixth century very much increased, 
both in Greece and Italy, and from that circumstance began to assume 
somewhat more importajit consideration than formerly, and the eastern 



3iB KOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

find western or Greek and Latin churches experiencing some incon- 
venience from their different mode of computing time, it was propo- 
sed, by an abbot of Rome, called Dyonisius Exiguus, to adopt a uew 
form of the year, with a newgenei'al era, which, consonant to the^ le- 
ligion should commence with the first existence of Christ upon rarth, 
in a mortal nature. This proposition was atlopted by the Chi'istians, and 
the incarnation or time when Christ entered the virgin's womb was fix- 
ed as the great event or epocha from which they were to calculate their 
era; but they retained the Roman division of the year into months, as 
also the names of those months. It is to be observed, that the Romans 
had ever since the time of Numa Pompilius commenced their year on 
tJie calends of Januai^y, that is, on the first day of ciiat month ; but the 
Christians now, from a pious zeal in their own religion, having fixed 
upon the incamafion, which according to the Roman computation of 
the months, they ascertained to be the 25 th of March, as the day of 
the commencement of their era, fixed that day also as the day upon 
•\yhich their year was in futui'e to commence. This prevailed for some 
time, but as it occurred to some good Christians, that the years of a 
man's life were not numbered from the time of his conception, biit fi om 
that of his birth, which must have been nine months afterwards, a dif- 
ference in the commencement of the year took place among the 
Christian churches throughout Europe, some adopting the day of 
Christ's A/r/A, to wit, the 25th of December, as the coirmencement of 
the year, others adhering to that of his incarnation, and others again to 
the old Roman method of the calends of January, which last happened 
to be also the day of Christ's circumcision. The result was, that dif- 
ferent nations, and indeed different writers, considering the subject 
rather in a temporal than in an ecclesiastical point of view, regulated 
the commencement of their civil year in their own way, still how- 
ever computing from the supposed commencement of the Christian 
era ; from which disagreement it is supposed, that an error of one year 
at least, if not two, in the number of years elapsed of the Christian era, 
has crept into the vulgar computation now generally in use throughout 
Christendom. 

Although the Roman calendar had been regulated by Numa Pompi- 
lius, and afterward by Juhus Cxsar, yet as astronomy was far from 
being so completely understood in those days as it was afterwards even 
in the sixteenth centviry, it was found m the lapse of several centuries, 
that the Roman computatiwi disagreed much with the motion of the 



^OTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 34.9^ 

4^rth, and that the holy feast of Easther, which was dependent on the 
Ternal e uinox, had got quite out of its place. Pope Gregory, there- 
fore, in the year 158 2, to counteract so great an inconvenience to the 
church) procured a thorough correction of the Roman calendar, and 
by a bull commanded all the Catholic states of Europe to adopt his cor- 
rectien, prescribing in the same bull also, that the commencement of 
the year should for the future be on the first day of January. This reg- 
ulation, as may be supposed, was conformed to by most of the Catho- 
lic states: but the Protestants at first peremptorily refused to receive it; 
though at last, from the obvious propriety of the measure, it met with 
a general reception even among them. England, Russia, and Sweden 
held out in opposition to it longer than any, and it was not till the 
year 1751, that an act of parliament was made, (stat. 25, Geo. 2, cap. 
23,) prescribing the first day of January to be deemed for the future, 
throughout all the British dominions, the first day of the year, and 
such alterations in the common English calendar were directed also as 
brought it to be the same as the Gregorian, then generally in us^ 
throughout the most of Europe. 

As the British colonies in America, now United States, naturally 
adopted the mode of computation practised by their mother country, 
it is materially important to them to know the computation used in 
England by the historians of that coimtry from the adoption of the 
Christian era in the time of Dyonisius before-mentioned, or at leas.t 
from the time of the fifr,t British settlements in America, to the alter- 
j^tion of the style in the year 1751. It is alleged by Dr. A. Holmes, 
in his very judicious work — "American Annals," (Note I., annexed 
to his second vol.) " that Beda" (sometimes called the venerable Bedr, 
the oldest English historian except one, and who lived from the year 
673 to that of 735, about a century after Dionysius Exiguus,) "took 
the Christian era from Dyonisius, and used it in all his writings ; and 
by that recommendation of it, occasioned its adoption and use in Great 
Britain, and the western parts of Europe." Although the Doctor does 
not expressly allege in the above-cited note, that Bede adopted the 
cojninencement of the year used by Dyonisius, to wit, the incarnation^ 
the 25th of March, yet in the text to which it is subjoined he strongly 
leaves that inference. But I find that a contrary opinion as to ede is 
held by the anonymous writer of a learned " Dissertation on the ancient 
manner of dating the beginning of the year," (pu!)lished in the Annual 
Register for 1759, a few years after the \d,^\ alteration of the style in 



350 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 

England,) who is of opinion that Bede commenced the year at the na' 
tivity of Christ, at least in some instances, and cites a passage from him 
in proof thereof, wherein he plainly places January among the first 
and not among the later months of the year. The same writer pro- 
ceeds to trace this subject in the following manner ; — " From Bede's 
time quite down to the Norman conquest, the constant way of compu- 
tation seems to be from Chrisnnas-day. The Saxon Chronicle also, 
(which comprises a period from the birth of Christ to the death of 
king Stephen in the year 115 4,) begins the year from the nativity of 
our Lord." 

" After the conquest, Gcrva.^e, a monk of Canterbury, in the preface 
to his chronicle, takes notice of many different ways of computation 
in his time, that is at the end of the twelfth, or the beginning of the 
thirteenth century. He says, that some computed from the annuncia- 
tion.) some from the nativity., some from the circumcision., and others 
from the /iassio7i of our Lord. The solar year, continues he, accor- 
ding to the custom of the Romans, and of the church of God, begins 
from the calends of January, (circumcision-day ;) but he rather chooses 
to fix the commencement of it to Chri&tnias-day, because we compute 
the age of men from the day of their birth." 

" This shows there was no standing, fixed rule of computation in 
Gervase'.9 time ; and the following observation confirms it, not only 
in his age, but also for several centuries after him. Matthew Paris, 
Matthew of Westminster, Ralph de Diceto, and Polydore Virgil, place 
the coronation of William the concjueror upon Christmas-day, A. D. 
1067, that is, these authors begin their new-year with that day, at 
least in this instance ; whereas Thomas W^alsingham, Roger de Hov- 
eden and John Brompton, all refer it to Christmas-day, A. D. 1066, 
which proves that they do not in this place begin the year till after 
that day." 

This writer further observes, that " Thomas Walsingham, who liv- 
ed in the fifteenth century, although he was one of the most accurate, 
of our monkish historians, does not always count from the same day.'* 
He adduces two instances to prove, that "he sometimes begins 
the year from the circumcision," (first day of January,) "and some- 
times from the 7z«m'zV;/," (twenty-fifth day of December;) for which 
he supposes the reason to be, " that in his Ypodigma Neustrse, he 
writes as a Norman, and that they computed the year only from the 
c.ircuvici.non, whereas in his History of England he Writes as an En- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATldNS. 351 

glishman, who in his time," (about the time of Gabot's voyage,) " gen- 
erally reckoned from the nativity." 

« Hitherto nothing of our late custom of computing from the an- 
nuncialion, has appeared in any of our old historians, except the bare 
mention of it in 'rervase. There is good reason to think it began 
about the beginning' of the reign of king Edward, IV. ; " which was in 
146 1. In confirmation of this the author of this dissertation adduces 
the history of Croyland Abbey, and also a biographical account of VVil» 
liam of VVickham, written by Thomas Chandler, who was chancellor 
of Oxford from 1458 to 1462, who dates the beginning of the year 
from the annunciation, and " about 15 or 16 years after," he says, " this 
custom" of beginning the year with the annunciation, that is, the 25th 
of March, " seems to have been fully settled." — This deduces the prac- 
tice of the English historians nearly down to the time of Cabot's com- 
mission. 

" At the reformation in England, in Henry the eighth's reign, in the 
early part of the sixteenth century, both the civil and the ecclesiastical 
authority interposed, to fix the commencement of the year to the feast 
of the annunciation, by adding the following rubric to the calendar im- 
mediately after the table of moveable feasts for 40 years, viz. " Note, 
That the supputation of the year of our Lord, in the Church of Eng- 
land, beginneth the 25th of March, the same day supposed to be the 
first day upon which the world was created, and the day when Christ 
was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary ;" which stood thus 
down to the Savoy conference, soon after the restoration, when it was 
thought proper to retain the order, and drop the reason given for it, 
and in this shape it was continued down to the late parliamentary cor- 
rection of the calendar, (in 1751,) which brings it back to the first of 
January, and is indeed the only legal settlement of it for civil affairs, 
for the rubric above-mentioned settles only the supputation of the 
Church of England, and says nothing of the civil government, which 
seems to have never used any other date than that of the king's reign, 
till after the restoration, not even in common deeds. During the usur- 
pation of Oliver Cromwell, the years of our Lord seem to have been in- 
troduced, because they did not choose to date by the years of the king's 
veign, and continued for convenience afterwards, without the interpo- 
sition of legal authority." 

" Our neighbours the Scots, from time immemorial, have invaria- 
bly observed the 25th day of March on the first day of the year, till 



352 NOTES A%T) ILLUSTRAT10^*S. 

November, 27th 1599, ^-hen the following entry was made in the books 
of the privy council : On Monday firoclamation made be the king^s waf 
rani, ordaining- the Jirst of January .^ in tyme coming, to be the beginning 
of the Mw-Year, which they have as constantly followed ever since. 

As supplementary to the foregoing extracts from the before-men- 
tioned dissertation, it may be observed, that the neighbouring kingdom 
of France had also different dates for the commencement of their year 
at different periods of time. " During the reigns of the Merovingian 
race, the French year began on the day whereon the troops were re- 
viewed, which was on the tirst day of March. Under the Carlovin- 
gians it began on Christmas-day ; and under the Capetians, on Easther 
day, which last still remains the beginning of the ivGnch ecclesiastical 
year," (unless altered by the late revolution,) " but for the civil year j 
Charles IX., appointed in 1564, (but a few years before the pope's 
bull for that purpose before-mentioned,) that for the future it should 
commence on the frst of January." See Chambers's dictionary, vtrb. 
year. 

It will be acknowledged, we may suppose, that this variance in the 
commencement of the year would not affect the dates of any events 
mentioned to have occurred out of the space of time contained between 
the first of January and the twenty-fifth of March. It is true that 
those who compute the Christian era from the incarnation or 25th of 
March, vary one whole year from those who compute it from the ca*' 
lends of January ; but that variance is only in the number of years which 
have elapsed from the birth of Christ. It does not affect the date of any 
intervening event, occurring in the space of time to which those who 
calculate from different commencements of the year, affix the same 
<3ate as to the year, that is, in the space of time between the 25th of 
March and the first of January next succeeding. To save much reason- 
ing, necessary to elucidate this, I will beg leave to cite a scientific au- 
thority upon the subject. In Xeil's Astronomical Lectures, (lect. 28,) 
published before the alteration ofthe style in 175 1, are the following pas- 
^;ages ; — " The English reckon from the feast of lady-day, 1718, (that 
is, from the 25th of March, 1718.) that there are completed 1717 years ; 
but from the birth of our Lord, to the feast ofthe Nativity ofthe year 
1717, they number only 1716 years elapsed ; whereas all the rest ofthe 
Christian world count 1717 years, — But yet for all this, the Enghsh, 
for the greatest part of the year, design it by the same number that 
the rest ofthe Christian world does; but for three months, viz. from 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 353 

the calenils of January to the 8th of the calends of April," (that is, 
from the first day of January to the twenty-fiftli day of March,) " they 
write one less." This is illustrated by the instance put by our Ame- 
rican annalist, Dr. Holmes, in the note last-cited from him ; " it Avas 
customary" (says he) " to give a double datf from the 1st of January 
to the 25th of March. Thus, February 8lh, 1721, was written Fe- 
bruary 8th, 17 |°." This demonstrates, that in the remaining part of 
the year there was no difference between the English and the rest of 
Europe, as to the date of the year. It is true that the ten days thrown 
out by pope Grep^ory, in his reformation of the calendar, made that 
much difference from the English computation, in the days of the 
months, but as to the date of the year, wliich is the present question, 
it has no effect. 

Hence, therefore, as the commencement of the reign of Henry VII, 
who jnade this patent to Cabot, and whose reign is therein alluded to, 
is an event which occurs in that part of the year, wherein all " the 
Christian world" agree in their number, and this too whether it be 
fixed on the day of his accession to the throne, when he gained the 
battle of Bosworth from Richard III, which was on the 22d day of 
August, 1485, or on the day of his coronation, which was on the 30th of 
October following, in tke same year, and the patent or commission to 
John Cabot bears date on the 5th of March, in the eleventh year of the 
reign of Henry VII, we are enabled to affix to this commission the 
year of Christ, as well as that of the reign of the king. For, calcu- 
lating the commencement of his reign from either of those events, to 
wit, the battle or the coronation, it will be found, that the 5th of 
March in the eleventh year of his reign, must be either in the year 

1495 or 1496, according to the time of the commencement of the 
year 1496. If the commencement of the year 1496 is fixed on the 
25th of March, agreeably to old style, the 5th of March of the cle" 
■venth year of his reign, will undoubtedly be in the year 1495, which 
is the year to which Hackluit, Harris, and Robertson h^ive referred 
the date of this commission; but if the commencement of the year 

1496 is fixed on the first day of January, agreeably to nevj style, the 
5th of March of the eleventh year of his reign will be in the year of 
Christ, 1496, to which year Rymer and Rapin have referred its date. 

Before this subject is closed, it will be proper to take notice of an- 
other note subjoined by Dr. Holmes in t\\t Jirst volume of his " Ame- 
rican Annals," (p. 15, anno 1495). It is as follows: " Henry vva-i 

2 V 



554 NOTES AND nXUSTRATIONS. 

crowned Oct. 30th, 1485. If that year be reckoned the ^frs? of his 
reign, this commission is rightly placed by Hackluit, Robertson, and 
others, in 1495; but, if the first year of his reign be reckoned froni 
1486, the commission must be placed, where Rymer and some others 
have placed it, in 1496." Tliis judicious annalist has accordingly 
adopted the former opinion, and in his work referred the date of the 
commission to the year 1495. But it must be observed, that his rea- 
soning here is either very inaccurately or very obscurely expressed. 
The word " from" being always exclusive^ if the year 1486 is thrown 
out of the computation of the eleven years altogether, it would place 
the date of the commission in 1497, contrary to his inference. Al- 
thctugh the end of " the first year of his reign would undoubtedly be 
in 1486, to wit, either on the 22d of August, or 30th of October of 
that year, yet one year of his reign, being then complete and ended, 
it must be counted as one in the computation of the eleven years. The 
progression then would bring the end of the tenth year of his reign to 
the 22d of August or 30th of October, 1495, when the eleventh year 
of his reign would commence, and would end on the 22d of August, 
or 30th of October, 1496. It would then be obvious, that the 5th of 
March in the eleventh year of his reign, would be referable either to 
the year 1495 or 1496, according to the coipmencement of the year 
1496, as before-explained. But as the neiv style^ that is, the compu- 
lation of the year from the first day of January, is now generally 
adopted in the United States, as well as in Europe, perhaps by force 
of the English statute before-mentioned, and when a year is mentioned 
in history, it is so computed in the mind of almost every reader, unless 
otherwise expressed, it would seem to be most proper to refer the date of 
the patent or commission to Cabot and his sons to the year 1496. For the 
same reason also, the author has thought it best, throughout this work 
to adjust the chronology of it according to what is called 7iew style^ 
commencing the year always on the first of January. It is hoped, there- 
fore, that although the date of this commission is a matter of little im- 
portance, yet, as the same variance in the commcncenient of the year* 
pervades every part of the early history of the British colonies in 
America, the reader will excuse the length of this note. 

NOTE (B) p. 24. 
Mr. Holmes, in his " American Annals," Note 1, at the end of his 
first volume, expresses himself as satisfied, that Cabot sailed as far 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATION'S. 355 

south as Cape Florida. It is with great diffidence, that I venture on 
an opinion diflerent from that of so accurate and judicious a writer. 
The passage wliich he cites from Peter Martyr, as the ground-work 
of his opinion, is according to him, thus : " Quare coactus fuit, uti ait, 
vela vertere, et occidenlem sequi : telenditciue tantum ad meridiem, 
littore sese incurvante, ut Hcrculei freti latitudinis fere gradum oequa- 
rit : ad occidentemque firoftctus tantum est, ut Cuham wfiidam a Uvo^ 
lo?igitudinc graduum /lent- /larem, /labut-rit." To which he immedi- 
ately afterwards adds, — ^^ Obscure as this passage is, it satisfies me, 
that Cabot sailed to Cape Florida, which lies in 25 deg. 20 min. north 
iat." From the manner in which the last sentence of the above pas- 
sage from Peter Martyr, is printed in his " Annals," (to wit : in Ita- 
lics,) it is to be inferred, that he laid a stress upon this sentence in par- 
ticular, as warranting the opinion he gives. But to come fairly at the 
meaning of the passage, every part of it should be taken into conside- 
ration ; and it may be thus rendered into English : " Wherefore he 
was forced, as he says, to turn his course toward the west ; and he 
stretched so far to the south, the shore bending in, as to be almost in 
the same degree of latitude as the Mediterranean : and he went so far 
to the west, as to have the island of Cuba lying on his left hand, almost 
equal in the longitude pi degrees." That the word " meridiem" is here 
to be rendered south is evident, not only because it is often so used 
according to the best Latin dictionaries, but that otherwise it would be 
here unintelligible, unless indeed it should be said to mean, '< towards 
the equinoctial line ;" in which, it would be synonymous to south in 
this case. (N. B. In pope Alexander's bull, in 1493, before referred 
to, which is published at large in the original Latin, in Hazard's Col- 
lections, Vol. 1, p. 5, the word " meridiem" is used as synonymous to 
jintarctic or South Pole.) Then the extent of Cabot's voyage to the 
south, is here very clearly confined to the same degree of latitude as the 
Mediterranea7i ; almost to it, twit certainly not beyond it. Now, the 
mouth of the Mediterranean, or Straits of Gibraltar, are well known to 
be in about 36° north Iat., which brings the voyage here spoken of, 
along the coast of America no further south than Roanoke, or Albe- 
marle Sound, in North Carolina. But the word " fere," almost, is not 
to be altogether rejected as a mere expletive ; it plainly intimates that 
Cabot did not come down to the o&th degree of north latitude, and be- 
ing indefinite as to the precise minute or degree above 36°, leaves the 
extent of his voyage south&rly, to be collected from circumstances 



355 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATION^. 

only, with this express restriction, that it did not reach quite to 36°. 
A strong inference is to be drawn also, from the agreement of so many 
respectable historians, besides Oldmixoti, before-cited in the text, who 
speak of Cabot's voyage, as extending southerly only to the 38th de- 
gree of north latitude. Harris, in his Collection of Voyages, Vol. 2, 
p- 191, edit. 1748, and Robertson, in his History of Virginia, both 
limit it to the 38th degree. There must have been some solid ground 
for this coincidence of opinion. Harris cites Robert Fabian, as ex- 
pressing himself, that Cabot sailed to the 56th deg. of north lat., " and 
from thence he ran down to the 38^, along the coast of the continent 
of America, which, as he (Fabian) says, was afterwards called Flori- 
da." Fabian lived and wrote in the reign of Henry VH, and must 
have had some substantial authority for fixing it to the 38° ; most 
probably, from the Journal of the \^oyage, then newly published, and 
fresh in the memory of every literary man. This agrees also, with 
■what is a well known historical fact, that the Spaniards, after Ponce 
de Leon's discovery of Florida, gave that name indefinitely, to the 
whole of the coast connected Avith the land he discovered, as appears 
from their subsequent claims, in virtue thereof, to both the CaroUnas, 
even as high up as the 37° of latitude. (See Harris's Voyages, Vol. 
2, p. 275. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 44, p. 41.) To proceed, however, with 
the above extract from Peter Martyr, particularly upon that part print- 
ed in Italics by Holmes, and on which he seems to rely : " ad occi- 
dentemque profectus tantum est, ut Cubam insulam a laevo, longitu- 
dine graduum peneparem, habuerit." Although this passage is obscure, 
as he observes, yet I think it may be understood without carrying Cabot 
down to Cape Florida. Having ascertained how far soz^^/z, or towards 
the Equinoctial, Cabot went, to wit : not further than the latitude of 
the Mediterranean, Peter Martyr then proceeds to show how far nvest 
he went, and in doing this, he attempts to ascertain the degree o{ lon- 
gitude to which he went west ; and it is well known, that the only v/ay 
bf ascertaining the situation of places on the globe, is by ascertaining 
their latitude and longitude. WheH he makes use of the expression, 
»' longitudine graduum," longitude of degrees, I understand him to 
jnean longitude as ascertained by the dei^rees on the equator, in the 
same manner as longitude is now and was then, calculated from some 
first meridian, and in contradistinction to the longitude or length of 
distance, which the ship had run from her place of departure. But 
the longitude of Cape Maize, the easternmost end of the island of 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. -^57 

Cuba, is 74°, 25', west from London, as appears from the most au- 
thentic tables and maps of the West Indies. A meridian Hne drawn 
through Cape Maize, would intersect the coast of North America a 
little to the north of Cape May, one of the capes of Delaware bay, in 
about 39° of north latitude. The coast there trending southwesterly, 
Cabot might still be said to have proceeded ivesterly as soon as he 
reached the 39° of latitude ; and thus proceeding westerly, he might 
with perfect propriety, be said to have the island of Cuba on his left 
hand, as soon as he had passed the meridian of Cajie Maize, abovcr 
mentioned. Then from Cape May to the 38° of latitude, (the point 
of division on the coast, between the states of Maryland and Virginia,) 
which is contended to be the utmost extent of his voyage towards the 
souths he was sailing with Cuba on his left, agreeable to the passage 
in Peter Martyr, and still more so, if it is supposed that he extended 
his coasting voyage to the 36° of latitude. It ought to be remember- 
ed, that Peter Martyr and Sebastian Cabot were cotemporaries. When 
Martyr, therefore, wrote his book 'je Or be J\''ovo, from whence the 
preceding passage was probably extracted, his knowledge of the coast 
of North America, in a relative situation to that of Cuba, must have 
been very limited indeed ; and possessed, as most navigators were at 
that time, with the idea of there being a free passage to the East In- 
dies by holding a nvestcrn course, he might with no great impropriety 
have expressed himself as he did with regard to Cuba, and yet not 
have meant that Cabot had continued his route as far as Cape Florida. 
An additional reason for this supposition, might be drawn from the 
words " pene parem," almost equal ; not quite to the same degree of 
longitude as Cuba, but almost to it. But if he had sailed to Cape Flo- 
rida, he would have been not only almost to the same degree of longi- 
tude, but almost past it, or very near to the western extremity of that 
island. It would be difficult also, in such case, to reconcile the limi- 
tation which Martyr had just before given, to what may be called the 
sotithing of Cabot's voyage, when he expressly confines it to the north- 
ward of the latitude of the Herculean sea, which without doubt, means 
the mouth of the Mediterranean, and which is, as before-mentioned, 
in about 36° north latitude. 

It may not be improper also, to make a few observations on one of 
the authorities cited by Mr. Holmes, (Annals, Vol. 1, p. 18, note 2, 
sub anno 1497,) in support or illustration of the extent of Cabot's voy- 
age, to wit : the Mod. Univ. HiaS. Vol. 40, p. 378. Although that vo- 



358 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

luminous historical compilation is a most useful work, yet, as Doctor 
Johnson has somewhere observed, it has been executed in a very 
unequal manner ; which seems indeed to be an unavoidable result, 
from its beinn; the joint labour of several men of unequal talents, learn- 
ing, or industry. In that part which relates to America, especially in 
respect to Florida, it does not appear to have been done with that fide- 
lity to historical truth, which ought ever to be the polar star of an his- 
torian. About the time when these volumes, which relate to America, 
were compiled, the British and Spanish nations were at war, and the two 
Floridas presented to the view of the former, a very convenient arrorz- 
dissemenc to their colonies on the continent of North America. In the 
39th Vol. p. 127, they speak of an expedition, which was at that time 
fitting out by the British for the conquest of Florida, and in the same 
Vol. p. 123, 129, 234, they manifestly endeavour to impress their 
readers with the idea, that Great Britain had just pretences to a prior 
right to that part of America by reason of the prior discovery of it by 
Sebastian Cabot ; though in the same volume, p. 129, they acknow- 
ledge that this prior right of discovery, was the only support of their 
claim. Accordingly, in the 40th Vol. p. 378, (the place cited by 
Holmes, in his Annals,) which appears to have been written just after 
the acquisition of Florida by Great Britain, by the treaty of peace in 
1763, acknowledging in the text, that the question, who were the first 
discoverers of Florida ? was a common topic^ much agitated, but little 
known, and confessing that the whole dispute was then immaterial on 
account of the late cession of that country under the treaty ; they ne- 
vertheless subjoin thereto a note, and insert the same again in the 
text, in Vol. 44, p. 2, and 41 : containing proof, as they suggest, from 
Sebastian's own words in 1496, that Florida was discovered by Sebas- 
tian Cabot long before Ponce de Leon's voyage. The passage they 
cite for that purpose, though they do not say from whence they take 
it, after describing how far Cabot explored the continent northward, 
makes him to say, " I turned back again, and sailed down by the coast 
of that land, toward the equinoctial, (ever with an intent to find the said 
passage to India,) and came to that part of this firm land which is now 
called Florida, where my victuals failing, I departed from thence, and 
returned to England." But whoever attends to what was before ob- 
served, that the Spaniards, in virtue of Ponce de Leon's discoveries, 
claimed all the southern part of the continent of North America to an 
indefinite extent northward, at least so as to comprehend the CaroK- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 359 

nas, and that the name of Florida, was by them so indefinitely applied 
to all that part of the coast along those states, will at once perceive, 
that this passage by no means proves what it was cited for. Cahot 
might have sailed " to that part of the firm land then called Florida,'* 
and yet sailed no further south than the 38th or 36° of north latitude. 
It clearly then appears, that what the authors of the Alod. Univ. Hist. 
have said upon the subject, cannot be admitted as very cogent au- 
thority. 

NOTE (C) p. 2 4. 

History seenxs to present mankind to our view only in three distinct 
states or conditions : the hunter, the pastoral, and the agricultural. In 
the first of these, which is that in which the aborigines of North Ame- 
rica were found by Europeans, the human race necessarily requires a 
greater superficies of the earth for its support and existence, than in 
either of the other two. But as it is manifest, that if all nations re- 
solved to live in this state, there would not be sufficient room on the 
earth for even the present number of its inhabitants, without any fu- 
ture multiplication thereof, it seems necessarily to follow, that it is 
lawful to compel those who live in this manner, either to occupy as 
small a space of country as possible for them in this state, or to foir- 
sake that mode of life and become cultivators of the earth. From 
hence it is obvious, that our ancestors, the English, were guilty of no 
infringement of natural right, when they attempted to occupy a por- 
tion of the continent of North America, whereon a few tribes of sa- 
vages were scattered in thin population, and whose subsistence princi- 
pally depended on the prey of the forest. While no wanton cruelties 
were practised towards them, nor offensive violence was offered to 
their persons or personal rights, there seems to have been no injustice 
in compelling them, either to contract their limits, or to cede a portion 
of their territory to those of their fellow-creatures who would culti- 
vate and improve it. It must be observed, however, that this reason- 
ing does not go in justification of the conduct of the Spaniards in the 
conquest of either Mexico or Peru, for there civilization had carried 
tlie population of the earth to nearly as high a pitch as in the most 
improved countries of Europe. 

The question, then, on the rights of prior discovery or prior occu- 
pancy with respect to America, seems to have been chiefly confined to 
the contests between Europeans for their respective portions of that 



560 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

extensive continent. The general reasoning, just before used, seems 
to oppose the idea, that a right resulting to one nation merely from 
first discovering an island or continent, without some actual occu' 
fiancy thereof following such discovery in a reasonable time, should 
forever thereafter preclude another nation from taking possession of 
the same. The manifest inconvenience to mankind, which would re- 
sult from this principle, if allowed, appears to demonstrate its absur- 
dity. The right of prior discovery is then, necessarily dependent on 
subsequent occu/iancy ; and as independent nations never have yet 
agreed to fix any precise limited time, within which the latter shall 
follow the former, the question, like all others in the law of nations, 
rests on the reasonable construction of mankind. It is upon this con- 
struction, and not on the pretended right of prior discovery by Cabot, 
that the English nation were justifiable in taking possession of that 
part of the continent afterwards denominated by them South Carolina 
and Georgia. It had been long abandoned by both the French and 
Spaniards, was derelict property, and was then unoccupied by either 
of those nations. 

It must be confessed, that considerable difficulty often attends the 
right of occupancy with respect to the limits or extent of the territory, 
which shall be said to be so gained by occupancy. Where a colony 
of a few hundreds of individuals sit down upon so extensive a conti- 
tinent as America, or as either the northern or southern half of it, it 
would be absurd to say, that such an occupancy would entitle them to 
the whole of such a continent. Some limitation to such a right must 
always be made ; and what this should be, has for the most part occa- 
sioned the many contests, which have taken place between European 
powers, in regard to America. The ignorance of the people of Eu- 
rope, of the great extent of the continent of North America towards 
the northwest, at the time of their first emigrations thereto, will in 
some measure apologise for the English monarchs in granting, and 
for their subjects in requesting patents of colonisation, comprehend- 
ing such enormous territories as some of them did, extending in pa- 
rallelograms of the surface of the earth from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Oceans. And yet on such a grant, was it seriously contended, at the 
time of the first colonisation of Maryland, that it was unjust to lop off 
from Virginia even so small a portion of that extensive dominion, as 
now composes the former state. This indeed, was only a contest be- 
tween the subjects of the same sovereign. More serious bickerings, 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 361 

producinc^ one or two long and bloody wars, afterwards occurred be- 
tween the maritime powers of Europe, with respect to America ; and 
yet, no sure and permanent rule has yet been ascertained. The claims 
of the French, while they possessed Canada, in virtue of their right to 
that province, would have hedged in the British colonies, within that 
narrow slip of the continent which lies between the Allegany moun- 
tains anf! the coast; but the right was decided, without recurring to 
the principle, on the plains of Abraham. The Spaniards, who seem 
least of all to set any bounds to their claims both of discovery and oc- 
cupancy, brought the subject into litigation between them and Eng- 
land, in the year 1771, by pretending, that because the Faulkland or 
Malouine islands lay within a b.undred leagues of the Straits of Ma- 
gellan, they were to be considered as a part of South America, and 
therefore their undoubted property, by the rights of both discovery 
and occupancy. The superiority of the British navy, however, com- 
pelled the Spanish court to the mortifying necessity of disavowing the 
violence, which the Spaniards had been guilty of, in dispossessing the 
British of those islands, and to give orders, that things should be re- 
stored precisely to the state in which they were before that outrage, 
contenting themselves with gravely declaring at the same time, that 
this should not affect the question, of the prior right of sovereignty 
over those islands. The uncertain extent of the claim of occupancy, 
was again exhibited, in a subsequent contention between the same na- 
tions, in the year 1790, relative to a small settlement made by the 
British in a part of the northwest coast of America, called J^'ootka 
sound, lying in about 50" of north latitude. In the year 1788, a party 
of English, with intent to establish a fur-trade on this coast, purchased 
some land of the Indian chief at this sound, built a house thereon, and 
erected a fortification for their protection. While they were thus in 
possession of the country at this place, a squadron of Spanish ships 
arrived, seized their vessels and stock of furs, and dispossessed them 
of their settlement. The Spaniards could have had at this time, no 
actual settlement or occupation of the coast, higher up than a place called 
San Francisco ; which, according to a journal of a voyage made by 
an American captain in that trade, in the year 1804, (published in the 
American Register for 1808,) was even at that time the most northern 
Preddeo or district of the Spaniards on that coast, and which is, as he 
says, in the latitude of 37°, 47', so that a space of the continent along the 
coast, of twelve degrees at least, about eight hundred miles, intervened 

2 Z 



362 KOTES AND 1LLUSTRAT10!S S. 

between that Pret^ideo and the place where the English attempted a 
settlement. It ought to be observed, that this same journalist explains 
a Presideo to consist only of a missionary or priest, for the conversion 
of the Indians, with a guard for him of five Spanish soldiers, under 
the command of a serjeant or corporal ; which could scarcely be called 
a colony or settlement for the occupation of the country. But the 
Spanish claim did not stop at Xootka sound, but extended as high as 
the Russian settlement or colony at Prince William's sound or Cook's 
river, which is in about sixty degrees of north latitude ; so that they 
would claim a coast of fourteen hundred miles in extent, without a 
single Spaniard settled thereon. It might be presumed that so haughty 
a nation as the English, would not yield to this. Atonement and com- 
pensation were demanded. The result was a convention between the 
two nations, signed by their respective ministers, on the 2Sth of Octo- 
ber, 1790, in which, after the stipulation for a restoration of the settle- 
ment, and compensation for the injury to the British subjects, a prin- 
ciple seems to be recognised, whereby each nation was at liberty "to 
carry on commerce, or make settlements on the coasts of the Pacific 
Ocean or South Seas, in places not a/ready occupied ; subject never- 
theless to the restriction, that the British should not navigate or carry 
on their fishery in the said seas, ivithin the space of ten leagues from 
any part of the coast already occupied by Spain." The Spaniards ap- 
pear to have here surrendered their claim under a right of prior dis- 
covery of the continent ; and it would seem, that although the limits 
of ten leagues is here applied to the fisheries on the coast, yet it would 
probably operate also as a limitation to the right of occupancy. But, 
from these circumstances we may infer, that neither of these thi-ee 
nations will be disposed to pay much regard to the claim of our young 
American states to their share of this coast, as a part of Louisiana. 
However, a sufficiency of our purchase from the emperor Napoleon, 
will probably still remain on the western side of the Mississippi, for 
the formation of many sister states. We have only to wish, that our 
union may live to see it. 

NOTE (D) p. 49. 

The statutes here alluded to were the 5 Bich. 2, c. 2; 13 E/iz. c. 3; 

and 14 Eliz. c. 6. By the first of these, (viz 5 Pic/i. 2,) " all manner 

of people, as well clerks" (clergymen) " as others, (except only the 

lords and other great men of the realm, and true and notable mei-^ 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 36^ 



chants, and the king's soldiers,) were prohibited from passing out of 
the reahn without the king's special license, upon pain of forfeiture 
of all their goods ; and the master of any vessel, who carried such 
persons out of the realm, should forfeit such vessel." By the statute 
of 13 Eliz. " If any native or denizen of the realm should depart the 
realm without the queen's license, and should not return again within 
six months either after warning by proclamation, or after the expira- 
tion of his license, he should forfeit to the queen the profits of all his 
lands during his life, and also all his goods and chattels. Fraudulent 
assurances made by fugitives of their lands and goods, to deceive the 
queen, should be void ; but the offender should have restitution upon 
submission." The statute of 14 Etiz. only regulated the mode in 
which the queen should take the profits of the lands of fugitives. 
The two last of these statutes, (viz. those in the reign of Eiiz.) being 
temporary, expired at the queen's death. Dyer, 176, b. note (30.) 
That of 5 Bich. 2, was repealed in the next reign after Elizabeth, by 
the statute of 4 Jac. 1, c. L Notwithstanding this, a clause of dis- 
pensation of " the statute of fugitives," is inserted in the ninth section 
of the charter of Maryland, granted to lord Baltimore, in 1632 
(8 Car. 1.) The repeal of the statute of 5 Bich. 2, by that of 4 Jac 
I, might possibly have been construed to extend only to Scotland, to 
which the whole of the statute of 4 Jac. 1, seems to relate, and ap- 
pears to have been made solely to remedy inconveniencies, which 
would otherwise have accrued from the recent union of the two kmg- 
doms. All of these three first-mentioned statutes, however, were in 
force at the time when Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained his patent, and 
a special dispensation was therefore essentially necessary, (inasmuch 
as dispensations were then held to be legal,) for such persons as should 
go out of the realm, even with the laudable intentipn of settling a co- 
lony. In those times there seems to have been some doubt also, whe- 
ther the common law, without any statute for that purpose, did not 
prohibit any subject from going out of the realm, without special 
license previously obtained. Dyer, 165, b. 3 Inst. 178. Lane 43 — 
The common law on this subject, as well as the before-mentioned 
statutes, evidently originated from the intolerable interference prac- 
tised by the popes of Rome, during the reigns of Edward III, and 
Richard II, in the political transactions not only of England, but of 
every nation in Europe. Subjects were invited to Rome to concert 
schemes, ostensibly for the good of the church, but in reality to carry 



364 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

on operations against their own government, and though committing 
the most atrocious acts of treason, were assured of the powerful pro- 
lection of the Roman pontiff. But the common law seems to be now 
settled, that every man may go out of the realm, for whatever cause 
he pleaseth, without any license for that purpose ; though it seems 
to be settled also, that the king by his prerogative, and without any 
help of an act of parliament, may prohibit his subjects from so doing; 
but this must be done by some express prohibition, as by Jaying on an 
embargo, or by writ of Ne exeat regno^ which writ is never grunted 
univernuUy, but only to restrain a particular person, upon oath made, 
that he intends to go out of the realm. This writ appertains more 
particularly to a court of chancery, and is adopted as a common pro- 
cess of that court, to prevent debtors from absconding out of the juris- 
diction of that court, with intent to evade the payment of debts, or to 
eloin property, 4 Bac. Abr. 168-9. 1 BL Com. 265. 3 Brown's Ch. Hefi. 
218, This we may suppose to be still the law in Maryland, since the 
writ of J^e exeat firovinciam,, in similar cases, seems to have been 
adopted as unquestionable practice in the Maryland court of chancery, 
prior to the revolution. See the case of Somerville v. Johnson, (Feb. 
1770,) I Harris 8c M'Henry's Rep. 348, where it issued to prevent a 
person from removing and carrying with him, negroes from Maryland 
to Virginia, to which negroes the complainant had an equitable claim. 

It is said also, that by the common law of England, the king may 
restrain his subjects from going abroad by proclamation^ 4 Bac. Abr. 
168. 4 BL Com. 122. This may be understood, as lawful in such cases 
as are spoken of by the writers on the Law of Nature and Nations, 
(particularly by Grotius and Burlamaqui,) where subjects leave the 
territories of the state in large companies. 

The general right of expatriation, would involve a discussion of too 
much length, to be here introduced. It may, however, perhaps be 
excusable to suggest a doubt, whether the time is not now arrived, 
when true policy dictates, that the importation of foreigners into the 
United States, and their easy access to citizenship among us, should 
no longer be encouraged. It is very questionable indeed, whether 
the nature of our republican institutions would admit of a population 
of our extensive territories equal to that of an European state. That 
foreigners should be permitted to reside among us under the protection 
of pur laws, without the political right of office or right of election ; but 
that their children born here, should acquire citizenship by their birth, 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 365 

in its fullest extent, seems to present to them no unreasonable hardship, 
and it is believed, would not operate much against the importation of 
them. The admission of foreign seamen also, to the protection of 
citizenship, must, in the nature of things, forever embroil us in quar- 
rels with the most powerful maritime nation in Europe. Our situation 
in this respect, presents a new case in the Law of Nature and Nations. 
For one whole race of people, speaking the same language, — using 
the same habits and customs, — living under the same laws, — and con- 
nected by the ties of blood and family, to be suddenly disjoined, and 
placed under two distinct governments, is a political incident, the exact 
parallel of which is not to be found in the records of history. It is a 
case, which the writers upon National Law, have never contemplated, 
and their general reasoning, therefore, vague and inconclusive as it is, 
on the right of expatriation, can, in relation to Britain, have no appli- 
cation to us. 

NOTE (E) p. 56. 

Letter from Sir Humphrey Gilbert to Sir George Peckham, taken from Ha- 
zard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 32. 

Sir George, I departed from PlymmUh on the eleventh of .Tune with five saile, 
and on the thirteenth the Barke Raiuley ran from me in faire and cleere wea- 
ther, having a large winde. I pray you solicit my brother Raiuley to make 
them an Example of all Knaves. On the third of August wee arrived at a port 
c;dled Saint John's, and will put to the Seas from thence (God willing) so soon 
as our ships will be ready. Of the Newfoundland I will say nothing, until my 
next Letter. Be of good cheere, for if there were no better Expectation, it 
were a veiy rich demaynes, the country being very good, and full of sorts ol' 
victuall, as fish, both of the fresh-water and Sea-fish, Deere, Pheasants, I'ar- 
tridges, Swannes, and divers Fowles. I am in haste, you sliall by every Mes- 
senger heare more at large. On the fifth of August, I entred here in the rig'ht 
of the crown of England, and have engraven the armes of England; divers 
Spaniards, Portugah, and other Strangers, witnessing the same. I can stay 
no longer ; fare you well with my good Lady ; and be of good cheei'e, for I have 
comforted my selfe, answerable to all my hopes. 

From Saint John's, in the Newfoundland, the 8th of August, 1533- 
Your's wholly to command. 
No Man more, 

HUM. GILBERT. 

NOTE (F) p. 63. 

As a supplement to the complimentary contest between the queen and Sh» 
Walter, noticed in the text, may be read a letter which he wrote to Sir Robert 



566 XOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Cecil, (with a view, without doubt, of having it shown to the queen,) during- 
his short imprisonment, for having- incurred her displeasure on an interesting 
occasion many years after his first introduction at court : " My heart was ne- 
ver broke till this day, that 1 hear the queen goes away so far off, whom I 
have followed so many years, with so great lo^•e and desire, in so many jour- 
neys, and am now left beliind her in a d;u-k prison all alone. I, that was wont 
to behold her riding like Alexander, hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, 
the gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks like a nymph, 
sometimes sitting in the shade like a goddess, sometimes singing like an an- 
gel, sometimes playing like Orpheus ; behold the sorrow of this world ! once 
amiss hath bereaved me of all. All these times past, the loves, the sighs, the 
sorrows, tlie desires, cannot they weigh down one frail misfortune ? Can not 
one drop of gall be hid in so great heaps of sweetness ? I may then conclude , 
Spes et fortvna, valete." It is to be remarked, (adds Hume, Hist, of Eng. ch. 
4-1, note (S), that this ,\ymph, Venus, goddess, angel, was then about sixty. 

The imprisonment, alluded to in the above letter, seems to be explained by 
an anecdote, mentioned by Sir Walter's l)iogi-apher, in his life prefixed to hi* 
History of the World, (3d edition, 1687,) as occurring about the year 1595 : 
*• Sir Walter having now deserted his naval employ, and become again a covir- 
tier, it was not long before he was seized with the idle court-disease of love, 
the unfortunate occasion of the worst action of his whole life. For in the 
year 1595, I find him under a cloud, banished the court, and his mistress's 
favour withdrawn, for clevirginativg a maid of honour. But why for this one 
action he should lie under the imputation of an atheist, and from a single 
crime get the denomination of a debauch, is the logic of none but the vulgar. 
But, to stop the mouth of fame, which is always open on such occasions, and 
to wipe out the infamy of the fact, he was shortly after married to the object 
of his love, the deflowered lady. Having, therefore, obtained his liberty, (for, 
for this action he was imprisoned some months,) and finding all things with an 
unpleasant aspect, he followed his genius of discovering new places, and trac- 
ing nature in her more retired and hidden parts, thinking that absence, and a 
fortunate voyage, might reinvest him in his mistress's thoughts, and merit a 
new esteem." He set out, in the same year, it seems, on a voyage to Guiana, 
(for, by this time, he had assigned away all his right to the territories of Vir- 
ginia,) and on his return, as lie had conjectured, appears to have been some- 
what reinstated in the queen's favour, being again employed in her service. 

NOTE (G) p. 126. 
It is not unworthy of nonce, that king James had, in a few years after this pe- 
riod, (between the years 1608 and 1612) another opportunity of exercising his ta- 
lents for the arts of peace, in planting English colonies in the province of Ulster 
in Ii-tland, upon those extensive demesnes forfeited by the rebellion and flight 
of the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. Similar attempts had been made in the 
reign of his predecessor Elizabeth, on the forfeiture of the estate of the earl of 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 367 

Desmond in Munster; but, as Leland observes, "In those plantations the Irish 
and Enjclish had been mixed together, from a fond imagination, that the one 
would have learned civility and industry from the other. But experience had. 
now discovered, that by this intercourse, the Irish learned only to envy the 
superior comforts of their English neighbours, and to take the advantage of a 
free access to their houses, to steal their goods and plot against their lives. It 
was, therefore, now deemed necessary to plant them in separate quarters. ' 
From this passage of the Irish historian, ("who was partial enough to his own 
countrymen,) as well as from his whole vork, it would seem, that the aborigs- 
nal Irish were, at this period of time, very little, if any, more civiliztd than 
the Indians of America, at the time of the first settlement of Virginia. The 
English colonists had, therefore, nearly the same difficulties to encounter in 
the one country as in the other. This historian, on this occasion, gives ho- 
nourable testimony in favour of the plans and designs of James, and further 
observes, that "Ireland must gratefully acknowledge, that here were the first 
fouTidations laid of its affluence and security." See Leland's Hist, of Ireland, 
Vol. 2, p. 430, 4:31 ; and Hume's Hist, of England, at the end of ch. 46, in 
the reign of James I. 

NOTE (H) p. 152. 
Tlie author has to lament, that it has not been in his power to procure a 
sight of Smith's History of Virgivia, in which, without doubt, this interesting 
voyage is more minutely described, and, in his map annexed to it, the places to 
which he first affixed names, more plainly delineated. An additional incentive 
to curiosity in this particular, arises from an allegation in the bill in chancer)' 
filed by the Penns, pi-oprie'tors of Pennsylvania, and drawn bj' the celebrated 
iord Mansfield when acting as counsel for them, in the year 1735, against the 
lord Baltimore, for a specific performance of the agreement made between the 
said Penns and lord Baltimore, relative to the bounds of their two provinces, 
in which it is alleged, that " the tracts of land, granted to lord Baltimore 
and described in the chai'ter, were so described and bounded by the help of 
captain Smith's History and Map of what was then called Virginia, and no 
other, and so all skilfuU persons do own, acknowledge, and believe, which ma- 
nifestly appears, for that the said map has all and every of the names of the 
several places which are contained and mentioned in the said letters patent, 
and no other map or maps whatsoever, which was extant in the year 1652, and 
at the time of granting the said letters patent, (save only the said Smith's map 
of Virginia,) hath or h.ave the names and descriptions of the several places 
mentioned in the said letters patent." What is related in the text is taken 
from a note in Bw-k's History of Virginia, (Vol. 1, p. 129,) in which he gives 
what he calls " a summary of Smith's route." It is as follows : " Fi'om Cape 
Henrr, Smith visited the islands, called after him Smith's islands ; thence to 
Russell's islands, now calleil Tanger's islands ; coasted along Eastern Sliore, 
till he reached the river Wighcomoco, now called Pocomoke; departing saw 



368 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIOXS. 

a hi^h point of land, which he named Point Ployer : calls the shoals near a 
cluster of islands, Limbo, since called Watt's islands. Stood over again to 
Eastern Shore, and discovered a river called Cuscarawacock. On this river 
lived the nations of Sarpinak, Nause, Arseck, and Nantaquack, the best mer- 
chants and greatest traders in those parts. They told the English of a great 
nation called Wassawomecks, in search of whom, Smith returned by Limbo, 
into the bay. Leaves the shallows of the Eastern Shore, and falls in on the 
western side, above the mouth of Patuxen— Calls the first navigable river Bo- 
lus river, now called Patapsco, in Maryland." Much of this note in Burk's 
History, is rendered unintelligible, by a confusion of names, not only in this 
short "Summary," but even by the most modern map-makers. The summary 
mentions, that " he coasted along the Eastern Shore, till he reached the river 
Wighcomoco, now called Pocomoke." But, as there are two distinct rivers in 
that part of the state of INL-iryland, yet well known by the names Wighcomoco 
and Pocowokp, the latter being the most southern, dividing the counties of 
Somerset and Worcester, and emptying itself, as before-mentioned, into Poco- 
moke bay below Watkins's Point, the former a little further northward above 
Watkins's Point, and emptying itself, together with the rivers Manokin and 
Nanticoke, into what is called Fishing bay, there seems at first view, to be 
some uncertainty in fixing the location of the river here called Wighcomoco. 
However, as the lord Baltimore's letters patent or charter of Maryland, de- 
scribes Watkins's Point, as situated upon the bay, " near the river Wighco," 
ipropeflvvivm de Wighco,) and as Pocomoke agrees with that description bet- 
ter than Wighcomoco in Somerset, (the river Manokin being between that 
river and Watkins's Point,) and moreover, as the name Wighco, is affixed to 
the Pocomoke, in the map annexed to the articles of agreement entered into 
between the lord Baltimore and the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, on the lOlh 
of May, 1732, (referred to in the before-mentioned bill in chancery, a copy of 
which map is now before me,) it would seem, that the river called Wighco, in 
the "Summary of Sm.ith's route," must have been the same as that now called 
Pocomoke, as is therein alleged. It is worthy of notice, that the word Wighco, 
Or Qiiigogh, or Wighcomoco, was a name very frequently affixed to rivers by 
the Indians, there being another river of that name in Maryland, separating 
the counties of St. Mary's and Charles, and another in A'irginia, at the mouth 
of the Patowmack. 

Considerable confusion arises also, from the different names given to these 
islands, not only in tlie Summary, but even in the two latest and best maps of 
the states of Maryland and ^ irginia. In that of Maiyland, published in 1794, 
b}- Dennis Oritfith, the first islands which Smith would naturally meet with in 
ascending the Bay of Chesapeake, they being the most southernly cluster be- 
low and south of the larger island, called Smith's island, are denominated 
'J'angier islands ; Init in that of Virginia, published by bishop Madison, in 
1807, tlse same islands are denominated Watts's islands; and the islands above 
arid north of the above-nuntioncd larger island, called Smith's island, are 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 359 

denominated the Tau^-ier islands; which same islands, so north of Smith's 
island, are, in Griffith's map, denominated Holland's Islands. These maps 
differ more than mig-lit be expected, also in the latitiicles of these islands, and 
in their situation in relation to the opposite shoi-es of the bay. In both maps, 
the line of the thirt3-eig-hili degree of latitude, (the division between Mary- 
land and A'irg-inia,) interseds Watklns's point nearly in the same proportion; 
but in GritHlli's map the line intersects the larger island, called Smith's island, 
nearly at its most aoiithem extremity, so as to place nearly the whole of the is- 
land in the state of Maryland, while in that of bishop Madison this island is 
placed so that its most nortliern extremity is at least two minutes below and 
south of Watk\ns's Point, and somewhat more south of the line of the 38th 
degree of latitude, by which means the whole of Smith's island is represented 
as belonging to the state of Virginia. Thus from this disagreement between 
these two maps, both made upon a large scale, a furtlier difficulty in under- 
standing this " Summary" is superadded to that which resulted from a change 
in the names of the places. 

It is worthy of observation, however, that it seems to be the opinion of the 
best mathematicians and gcog-raphers, that it is impossible, with the best in- 
struments, to fix any degree of latitude to a precise point. The uncertainty 
is such as to vary, according to some, to the difference of two or three miles; 
according to others there is imcertainty in coming within seventeen miles. 
This circumstance was dwelt upon by lord Hardwicke, io the great case of 
the Pemia v. lord Baltimore, (before alluded to in 1 Vesey, 453,) in which the 
true situation of Cape Henlopen came in question. He took occasion also, in 
th.Ht case to remark, that the computations of latitude, at the time of the lord 
Baltimore's charter varied much from what they were at present ; and that 
they were set much lower anciently than what they are now; as appears (as 
he said) by Mr. Smith's book, which is of reputation ; but (says he) I do not 
rely on that; for the fact is certainly so. 

We are left to conjecture also, in ascertaining what river is meant in the 
above-mentioned summary, by that c.iUed Cuscarawacoch. As one of the na- 
tions or tribes, which are said to have lived on it, was called JVantaqvack, 
there is much probability, from the similitude of sound, as well as their local 
situation, that this nation was the same as th.at which has been longknown by 
the name of J\'aniicukes, inhabiting on the banks of the Nanticoke river. — 
There arises a presumption, therefoi-e, that the river then culled Cuscarawa- 
cock is that now called Nanticoke, and that the place of Smith's interview 
with the several tribes before-mentioned, collected together there, most pro- 
bly by curiosity, was at the point of land or peninsula, dividing the rivers 
W'ghcomoco and Nanticoke, and which is called in Griffith's map Nanticokc- 
point. If it be true, as Mr. Thompson alleges, that the Nanticokes formerly 
resided at the head of the bay, it is not improbable, that the name of the 
Cuscarawacock was changed to that of Nanticoke, in some course of time 
after their residence on it. The app.arent terror expressed by them to SmilM 

3 A 



370 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

of the Wnssawomecks, is some corroboration of the supposition, that they 
once resided at the head of the bay, and were driven thence by the Wassawo- 
mecks to seek a habitation in the lower parts of it. 

NOTE (T) p. 164. 
The principal use of the notice we have taken of this abortive attempt to 
settle a colony in Newfounclkiiid, is to show a probable chain of connexion 
between this and a subsequent attempt made by the lord Baltimore, afterwards 
the proprietary of the province of Maryland, to make a settlement on that 
island, in a province there, wliicli was granted to him under the name of Ava- 
lon. Notwithstanding the partiality which king James evidently had for the 
English Catholics, yet a very great majority of tlie nation being Pi-otcstants of 
one description or another, he was obliged to give way to the inclinations of 
tliat majority. Hence the penal laws against Papists, though against his 
wishes, were rigidly enforced throughout the kingdom. A few great men, 
however, by temporising and professing themselves of the Church of England, 
though really Catholics, were received at court b) James with great cordiality. 
Among these was Henry Howard, eavl of Northampton, one of the patentees 
of the grant here referred to. An additional cause also operated on the mind of 
James, which was the attachment which had been manifested by the Howard 
fam.ily to his mothei-, Mary, queen of Scots. This Henry Howard was the 
younger brother of Thomas Howard, fourth duke of Norfolk, who was be- 
headed in the reign of Elizabeth, for holding a treasonable correspondence 
with the queen of Scots. " Alas!" said Mary, when she was told of his death, 
" what have the noble house of the Howards suffered on my account !" James 
entered into all these feelings. He had scarcely arrived in London, on his first 
accession to the throne, before he restored to the family their lost honours, 
and created Henry earl of Northampton, who in complaisance to James, pro- 
fessed himself a Protestant. The main branch of the family, however, that is, 
Tiiomas Howard's son, and gi-andson, and their descendents, continued Catho- 
lics until about the middle of George the third's reign. Henry made use of 
his favour with James, on all occasions, to befriend the Papists. Being warden 
of the Cinque Ports, he connived at the entrance of the Jesuits and Romish 
piicsts into the kingdom, though he thought it proper to institute his suit of 
bcandalum magnatuni, in the star chamber, against some persons who hap- 
jiened to talk of this. Ilapin says, that the truth of the report was proved bv 
a letter under the earl's own hand to cardinal Bellarmine, which the archbisliop 
of Canterbuiy (George Abbott, who was so opposed to popery that he was 
called a Puritan,) produced on the trial, and that upon this letter the parties 
accused were discharged, but in the report of the case hy Mo ore ^ (see JMoore'a 
liep. 821), it is said, that they were grievously fined. In a little more than a 
year aferwards the earl died, on the 15th of .Tune, 1614; and, what corrobo- 
rated the truth of the charges against him, lie declared in his last will and 
testament, that he had alwajs been a Catholic, and would die in that religion. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 371 

Hypoei-isy being most commonly the mother of every vice, it is almost unne- 
cessary to add, that historians have drawn his character in tiu most odious 
colours. It is very certain, that he was deeply concerned with his niece in the 
poisoning- of Sir Thomas Overbury, in order to facilitate her marriag-e with 
Carr, the king's favourite. 

Viewing this man's character, and the situation of the Papists at this pe- 
riod of time, we are unavoidably led to connect his intentions in sending out 
this colony to Newfoundland, with those of Sii- George Cidvcrt, in about ele- 
ven years afterwards, whose motives were honestly and openly professed to be, 
that of forming an asylum for the Catholics. What inducements operated with 
lord Bacon, Mr. Justice Dodderidge, lord chief baron Tanfield, and others of 
the patentees less known, we are not informed; and are therefore to attribute 
to them the laudable motive of pursuing the public good, though perhaps 
blended with the prospect of private emolument. See liapin's Hist, of Engf- 
land. Vol. 8, p. 8, 99, lUl, 104, 131. Hume's Hist. Vol. 4, p. 247. 

NOTE (K) p. ir4. 
Although the observations of Doctor Russell on indulgences, (in his History 
of Modern Europe, letter 55,) are here acceded to, yet it is not thereby meant 
to approve of his hijpercriticism on what Mr. Hume has said on the same sub- 
ject, in Note (A) to chap. 29, of his Hiit. of England. Mr. Hume was endea- 
vouiln., to show, that "the sale of indulgences was no more criminal than any 
othe: cheat of the church of Rome, or of any other church ;" which led him to 
ren=..ii, that "after all these indulgences were promulgated, there still re- 
mamed (besides hell-fire,) the punishment by the civil magistrate, the infamy 
of -uie world," (which last sanction, a very powerful one, is, by the by, omitted 
by Doctor Russell in his quotation,) "and secret remorses of conscience, w/iuA 
are the great motives that operate on mankind.''' On which the Doctor has 
thought it pr(jper to bestow the following extraordinary language : "Now the 
first of these assertions" (by which the Doctor can mean nothing else than the 
existence of hell-fire,) " is literally /a/se ; for the very words of an indulgence 
bore, that it restored the person to whom it was granted to that limocence and 
purity which he possessed at baptism ; and according to the doctrine of the 
Romish church, the infant is then fit for Heaven. But the indulgence did not 
stop here; it concluded thus : ' so that when you die, the gates of punishment 
shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delight shall be opened.'" Not- 
withstanding :Mr. Hume might have been here guilty of a small over-sight, in 
not attending to the operation of an indulgence, in exempting the sinner from 
JieU-fire—a. circumstance, on which he appears to lay very little stress, and that 
too probably, only in compliment to the believers in Christianity, relying upon 
the other " great motives" to morality which he mentions, yet he evidently 
means here only to check the exuberant declamation of " Protestant writers," 
upon the effects of indidgences. Pronoancmg the sale of indulgences to be a 
« cheat," like other pious frauds committed by other chtirches as well as tiiQ 



372 SfOTES AND ILLUSTRATIOXS 

Romish, he cannot fairly be said to be arguing in their favour. It must be ac- 
ktiowleg'ed b)' those who suffer themselves to reason on such subjects, that the 
unbounded confidence, which is tauglit by modern fanatics to be placed in the 
efficiency of failh^ in preference to g-ood works, in obtaining salvation, has 
much the same pernicious effect on the moral conduct of human society, as 
the actual grant of indulgences by the supreme pontiff of Rome. 

NOTE (L) p. 177. 
There is not, perhaps, any sect of the original reformers, which has admit- 
ted of a greater number of subdivisions, than that of the Anabaptists. The 
doctrine of the baptism of adults, being somewhat more consistent with rea- 
son, than that of infants, it seems to have been greedily adopted by muny of 
tlie first reformers. With this principle as a foundation, they frequently con- 
nected the most ridiculous and absurd tenets ; still retaining, however, the 
name of Anabaptists. Several of them attempted, in the year 1535, at Amster- 
dam, to revive the doctrine of the Adamites, a Christian sect of the second 
century, whose principal tenet was to strip themselves naked during their reli- 
gious ceremonies. These Anabaptists exceeded the Adamites, for they parad- 
ed the streets stark naked, both men and women. Another schism happened 
among the Anabaptists, about the same time, at Haerlem, in Holland. It owed 
its original, to the liberty which a young man there took, of putting his hand 
into the bosom of a young woman whom he loved, and had a mind to marry. 
This touch of her breast, came to the knowledge of their church ; and there- 
upon they consulted what punishment the delinquent ought to suffer. Some 
maintained, that he ought to be excommunicated ; others said, that his fault 
deserved favour, and wovdd never consent to his excommunication. The dis- 
pute grew to such a heighth, that it caused a total rupture between the two 
parties. Those who declared for indulgence to the young man, were called 
JdamiUarimis, from J\faimILe, breasts. (Sec Bai/Ie's Hist. Diet. Artie. Adamites, 
Mamilluriansj and Picards.) A more inoffensive party of them, however, was 
formed about the same time, in Holland, by one of their principal chiefs, whose 
name was Mennon, from whom they took tjie name of Meimonites, and subsist 
to this day as a distinct sect, both in Europe and America. " Conti-ary to the 
mutinous and sanguinary principles of the original Anabaptists, they became 
altogether innocent and pacific. Holding it unlawful to wage war, or to ac- 
cept of civil offices, the}- devote themselves entirely to the duties of private 
c'.tixens; and L>y their industry and charity, endeaAour to make reparation to 
human society, for the violence committed by their founders. A small num- 
ber of this sect, which is settled in England, retains its peculiar tenets con^ 
earning baptism, but without any dangerous mixture of enthusiasm." {Robert- 
so?i^s Hist, of Cha. V, book 5th.) They hold the principle also, of refusing 
oaths ; (Prond's Hist, of Pennsylv. Vol. 2, p. 342;) which is probably what is 
meant by Kobcrtson, in their refusing to accept of civil offices. A very early 
instance, in regard to them, occurs : about the time of tlie first revolt of the 



NOTES AND TLLUSTRATIONS. 373 

Datch provinces from Spain, when only the two provinces of Zealand and Hol- 
land had become independent, the magistrates of the city of Middleburg', in 
Zealand, had prohibited the Menists, as they were then called, from carrying' 
on trade, and had caused their shops to be shut up, because they refused to 
take the usu.'d oaths to the state. The prince of Orange, who still retained his 
power, as governour of Zealand and Holland, after an admonitory letter to the 
magistrates, dated January 26th, 1577, issued express orders to them, not to 
molest the Menists on account of their refusing the oaths. See tlicse letters 
and orders in a book published by the Quakers, when they applied to Charles 
II, of England, for the like liberty, in the year 1675, entitled "The Ciise of the 
people called Quakers, relating to oaths." The Menonists emigrated to Penji> 
sylvania, where their principal settlement in America is, as early as t!ie year 
1698, some in 1706, 1709, and 1711, but most of them in 1717; when, in a veiy 
extraordinary manner as it appears, the Quakers of that province, notwith- 
standing the similarity of their tenets, expressed great uneasiness at their 
coming there. See PmuVs Hist, of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2, p. 100. Acts of asr 
fiembly in Maryland, provide for the indulgence of them in refusing oaths, put- 
ting their affivmatim. upon the same footing as that of the Quakers j but it is 
doubtful, whether any of them be settled in that state. Lancaster, the place 
of their principal residence, being in the neighbourhood of Maryland, it i3 
possible that their frequent intercourse in that state, might have occasioned a 
legislative provision in their favour. 

The Anabaptists, properly so called, are numerous in almost every state in 
the union. They are said to be " chiefly upon the Calvinistic plan as to doc- 
trines, and independents in regard to church-government. Morsels Geographj', 
artic. Pennsylvania. If we could place any confidence in an allegation made in 
a law of Massachusetts against them, in the year 1644, which must have been 
shortly after their first emigration to America, to wit : that " they denied the 
lawfulness of magistrates," it would seem, that they had not then relinquish, 
cd uU their dangerous tenets. But this allegation might have been made merely 
to cover the persecution against them. See the law in Hazard's CollectioUo, 
Vol. 1, p. 538. 

NOTE (M) p. 181. 

The reader, it is hoped, will not be displeased with the insertion here of it 
description of the execution of Servetus, extracted from a MS. history of him, 
cited in a note on the same subject in Jtoscoe's Pontificate of Leo X, ch. 19. 
** Impositus est Servetus trunco ad terram posito, pedibus ad terram pertin- 
gentibus, capiti imposita est corona, straminea vcl frondea, et ea sulphure 
conspersa, coi-pus palo alligatum ferrea catena, coUum autem tunc fune crasso 
quadruplici aut quintuplici laxo; libef femori alligatus; ipse carnificem roga- 
vit, ne se diu torqueret. Interea carnifex ignem in ejus conspectum, et deinde 
in orbem admovit. Homo, viso igne, ita horrendum exclamavit ut unlversiim 
popidum pcrterre fecent. Cum diu langueret, fuerunt ex populo, qui Livi- 



374 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

culos confertim conjecerunt. Ipse horrenda voce damans, Jesii, Fili Dei Eter- 
rd, viiserere mei. Post dimidiae circiter horx cruciatum expiravit." On this 
Roscoe remarks, that Calvin, who was apprehensive that the death of Ser- 
vetus mig-ht entitle him to the rank of a martjr, thought it necessary to 
defame his memory, by asserting- that he had no relig-ion; and inhumanly at- 
tributed the natural expression of his feelings, on the approach of his horrible 
fate, to what he calls a brutal stvpiditt;. " Ceterum ne male feriati nebulones, 
vecordi hominis pervicacia quasi martyi-is glorientur, in ejus morte apparait 
belluina stupiditas, unde judicuim facere liceret, nihil unquam serio in reli- 
gionem ipsum cgisse. Ex (juo mors ei denunciata est, nunc attonito smiilis 
haerere, nunc alta suspiria edere, nunc instar lymphatici ejulare. Quod pos- 
tremum tandem sic invaluit, ut tantum, hispanico more, reboaret, Misencor- 
dia, MiseHcorcUa." Calvini Opus. p. 101. — Was not this making a cruel scoff 
at the sufferings of this unfortunate man ? And are we not as much surprised 
at the opinion expressed on Servetus's execution by a celebrated cotemporary 
I'eformer — Melanchton ? " Miratus sum esse qui severitatem illam impro- 
bent." — But we find the principle of these intolerant sentiments recorded in 
Calvin's " Christian Institution " — " Si penes singulos jus et arbitrium erit 
judicandi nihil unquam certi constitui poterit, quin potius tota vacillabit reli- 
gio." Calv. Inst. lib. 4, p. 10. sect. 31. — But we are told, that the followers of 
these reformers have left off these things, particularly in America; and that 
the excellent constitution of the United States gives unbounded freedom in 
matters of religion. — Vain deception ! — The constitution of the United States, 
it is true, provides, in one of its amendments, that " Congress shall make no 
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the fi*ee exercise 
thereof" — It is possible, that instances ma}" occur, where this amendment to 
the constitution may be of some use ; as appears from two recent cases in the 
late session (in 1810 — 11,) where the president thought it proper to interpose 
his disupprobatioji of two bills deemed by him unconstitutional under this 
clause. But as congress seldom have occasion to legislate on subjects of re- 
ligion, the oppression of individuals in the enjo3'ment of their religious as 
well as civil rights, is most generally to be apprehended from the state go- 
vernments. In most of the states the penalties of the common la-u, in matters 
of religion, still subsist. The bloody statutes also, of some of them, only shep. 
Not being repealed they are liable to be called up into action at any moment 
when either superstition or fanaticism shall perceive a convenient time for it. 
What Jew, Socinian, or Deist, possessing a sound mind, would venture, in the 
state of Maryland for instance, to open his lips even in defence of his own re- 
ligion ? — Alas ! (as Roscoe observes on this subject,) " The human mind, a 
slave in all ages, has rather changed its master, than freed itself from its ser- 
vitude." 

NOTE (X) p. 191. 

In Tindal's edition of Rapin's Hist, of Engl. (vol. 7. p. 528,) it is suggested, 
that " the severities, which from this time" (to wit, that of making the sta- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 375 

tute of 35 Eliz. ch. 1.) " began to be exercised in England upon the nonconfor- 
mists, were probably occasioned by the disturbances caused by Ilacket and 
some other enthusiasts." This William Ilacket, (according to the account of 
him given by Bayle, in his Hist. Diet. art. Ilacket, which account seems to have 
been extracted principally from Camden^s Annals,) was originally a servant to 
one Mr. Husscy in Northamptonshire. It was a practice with him to attend 
tlie sermons of the Puritan ministers, for the purpose of repeating them again 
to his acquaintance, and though illiterate, yet having a most retentive memory, 
he would over his cups with his companions, amuse them v/ith a mock recital 
of tlicir sermons. Being much addicted to drunkenness and debauchei-y, to 
support his expenses in that way he turned a highwayman. At last he set up 
for a prophet, and prophesied famine, pestilence, and war to England, unless 
it established the consistorial (or Calvinistic) discipline. He began to pro- 
phesy at York and Lincoln, for which, it seems, he was publicly whipped ; pro- 
"bably on a prosecution against him at common law, as an impostor in religion; 
(for which see 1 Haivh. ch. 5, sect. 3.) Having a wonderful fluency in extempo. 
rary prayer, he made the people believe, that it proceeded from an extraordi- 
nary gift of the Holy Ghost. He pretended to have a very great confidence in 
these prayers, for he said, that if all England should pray for rain, and hp 
should pray to the contrary, it would not rain. He had the address to per- 
suade two persons of some learning, Edmund Coppinger and Henry Arthing- 
ton, to join him. Coppinger assumed the title of the prophet, of mercy, and 
Arthington that of the prophet of judgment. They gave out, that they had an 
extraordinary mission, and that next to Jesus Christ none upon cartli hy»d 
greater power than William Hacket. They declared that he was the sole 
monarch of Europe. They would have proceeded to the ceremony of unction, 
but he would not sufler them, being already anointed, he said, by the Holy Ghost^ 
in heaven. They asked him at last, what he had to command them, and protested 
they would pay an obedience without reserve. He ordered them to go and pro- 
claim through all the streets of London, that Jesus Christ was come to j udge the 
world. They immediately obeyed him. They drew together, by their bawling, 
such a concourse of people, thW being come to Cheapside, they covdd go no 
further, nor be heard; but finding an empty cart, they mounted upon it and 
discoiu-scd of tlie important mission of William Hacket. They said, that he 
partook of the nature of glorified bodies, and was to convert all Europe to the 
consistorial di.scipline; and that the power of judgment was committed to 
him. They prophesied, that all who refused to obey this king of all Eui-cpe, 
should kill one another, and that the queen should be dethroned. — Havhig tlnis, 
as fiithful missionaries, propagated the doctrines of their lord and master, 
-they returned to the inn where he lodged. As soon as Arthington approached 
his presence, he turned rouiid to the people, who had followed them, and 
ci-ied out, " Behold the king of the earth !" They were afterwards arrested, 
prosecuted, and tried for high treason; (it being plainly within the statute 
<5f 13 Eliz. ch^ 1, at that time in fprce; see 1 IMc's Hist. Fl Cr. 319.) Whe:\ 



^7-6 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATION'S. 

>hey were on their trial, they refused to take their bats off before the judges, 
sayingi, they icere ttb'/ve the Ttiagistratea. Hacket also, at the same time, ex- 
pressed to the judg'cs the most virulent invectives against the queen, and 
added, that his design was to rob her of her crown and life, and change the. 
•luhole form of the got'ernment. Hacket was executed in pursuance of his sen- 
tence, which was, to be hanged and quartered. Coppinger starved himself to 
death in prison; and Arthington was pardoned. These disturbances in the 
streets of London occurred, (according to Bayle, as before-cited,) on the six- 
teenth of July, 1592, which was about six months prior to the making the 
statute of 35 Eliz. ch. 1. — It must be acknowledged, that these scenes too 
strong-ly indicated a renovation in England of the then recent excesses of the 
Anabaptists at Munster. When religion will thus forcibly mingle itself with 
the political proceedings of the government, reason pronounces the necessity 
of applying some curb to it. The happiness of the people, the supreme law, 
in such case demands it. 

NOTE (0) p. 203. 

Mr. Holmes, in his Annals, (in Note 5, at the end of his first volume,) has 
expressed consideitible dissatisfaction with an Jlmerican histonan, for endea- 
vouring to represent, that the Puritans removed from Leyden to America, be- 
cause they were " obscure and unpersecuted." He seems to allude to an ex- 
pression of Mr. Marshall, in his Life of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 90, who says, 
that "their obscure situation at Leyden became irksome to them," and ** with- 
out persecution they made no converts." But it is to be observed, that Mar- 
shall h-is on this occasion, only copied the expressions and observations used 
by Dr. Robertson in his History of New England, who could not be suspected 
«f being an " advocate for the English hierarchy." Besides, as it is in vain to 
deny, that the eclat attending the foundation of any religious sect, which shall 
happen to make a noise in the world, has considerable operation in the minds 
«f the founders, v\'hether they are sincere in their belief or not, there cannot be 
much impropriety in saying, that the dread of having their schemes to prove 
abortive, and their names to sink into obscimtn, would not a little mingle with 
«ther considerations, however laudable or virtuous. It is equally in vain also, 
to deny, that persenUion has, in many instances, contributed much to promote 
the growth of religious sects. Robinson's sect being entirely destitute in Hol- 
land, of the nourishing dew of persecution, it was not too vague an inference, 
tliat, through want of this, they made fewer converts than they would other- 
wise have done. Without some of these means, by which a regular accession 
to their numbers could be made, it was evident, that old age, natural deaths, 
rnd the vexatious defection of their youth, so pathetically complained of, would 
in time work their annihilation. 

Mr. Holmes is displeased also, that " the Puritans of Leyden and of New 
England are, to thin day, represented as Broivnists.^' But it seems to be cer- 
tain, however, from all ilie best historians of those times, that the first person 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 377 

among the Puritans, who set up a separate congregation distinct from the 
PresbyteriaHj was Robert Brown. Whether he then introduced the exact 
church-disciplinej afterwards established by Robinson, is immaterial. Brown 
being the first person who appeared in England at this time, among the Puri- 
tans, at the head of a visible congregation, of a sect entirely new, would natu- 
rally induce persons of other sects to give them a name ; which they didj by 
calling them after their first apparent founder. It ought to be noticed, that it 
is not always in the power of any sect or religious society of people, to appro- 
priate to themselves a fixed determin.ate denomination. Other men will fix it 
for them. Nor is it in their power to alter it, any more than the language ge- 
nerally spoken. This is verified by that of the Quakers, who to this day dis- 
claim that name, it being a term of ridicule ; but call themselves " Friends," 
a term which few people adopt when they speak of them. A book v.Titten by Ro- 
binson, entitled " A just and necessary apologie of certain Christians no less 
contumeliously than commonly called Broimists or Barrowists," is cited by Mr. 
Holmes, to show what were Robinson's principles; in which Robinson pro- 
fesses that their religion was the same as the Dutch Reformed Church, except- 
ing something relative to the Apocrypha. That might be, and yet not be va- 
riant in doctrine from the church founded by Brown. But this citation of the 
title of Robinson's book is so far unfortunate, as to prove directly, that in the 
time of Robinson, according to his own acknowledgment, the members of his 
church were "commonly called Brownists ;" and moreover, that the Brownists 
and these anonymous "certain Christians," were, according to the confession 
of the chief or leader of the latter, one and the same sect ; which reduces it to 
the question, whether it was in their own power, or in that of other men, to 
alter or continue their former denomination. Analogous to this, is the title of 
a very learned and well-written book, by that gi-eat apostle of the Quakers, Ro- 
bert Barclay: "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, as the same is 
held forth, and preached by the people, called in scorn, Quakers ;" in which he, 
in the same manner as Robinson, professes to set forth the principles of the 
Quakers, and expressly mentions, that " it was a name not of their choosing, 
but reproachfully cast upon them." But it would be ridiculous for any Quaker, 
who professed to belong to what they call The Society of Friends, to say, that 
he was no Quak£r. In corroboration of what is here said, it may be proper to 
subjoin a short extract from No. I, of the Appendix to the second Vol. of 
Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts: *'I shall briefly touch upon their eccle- 
siastical affairs. I suppose this people were the first who took or received tlie 
name of Independents, which in a few years after was the name given to a body 
of men in England, who assumed the government there. When they first -vent 
to Holland, they ivere hno-.m by the 7iame of Browmsts. Some of the characteris- 
tics of Brownism, they afterwards disclaimed, and at the same time disclaim- 
ed the name, which was generally odious ; the character of the founder of the 
sect, being at best, problematical. Besides, he renounced his principles, and 
returned to cpiscopacv. The Puritans they could not conform to, and there ^ 

3 B 



378 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

fore considered, themselves as a distinct church or by themselves, independent 
of all other." Who are meant here, "by the Puritans to whom they could not 
conform," unless they are the Eng-lish Presbyterians, it is difficult to conceive. 
However, it shows, that ivhen theij first -zvent to Holland, they -were known by 
the name of Broivnists ; but that Brown, by his apostacy, having- brought the 
name into discredit, tliey began to be ashamed of it. To this may be added, 
that Sir William Temple, in his excellent " Observations on the United Pro- 
vinces," wliich he wrote about the year 1670, mentions the liro-wnists among- 
other sects, "whose names were then almost worn out in all other parts," as a 
sect then and there existing by that name ; which sect must certainly have** 
been, the remains of either Robinson's or Smith's congregations at Amster- 
dam or Leyden. 

Mr. Holmes also represents Robinson as " a man of learning, of piety, and 
of Catholicism ;" and in Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts, Vol. 2, Appen- 
dix, " he is said to have been a man of good leai-ning, and of a benevolent dis- 
position :" where is mentioned, (we may suppose by way of confirmation of his 
character for learning,) that he was persuaded by Poljander, one of Ihe divi- 
nity-professors in the university of Leyden, to dispute publicly with Episco- 
pius, another divinity-professor in the same imiversity, on the relig-ious tenets 
of the Armenians, a new sect then lately risen in Holland. When we read and 
reflect upon the troubles and distresses, which befel the persons who professed 
the Ai-menian tenets in Holland about this time, persecuted throughout ail the 
provinces more inveterately than the Puritans were in England, whatever 
" honour and respect" Mr. Robhison might have acqij^d from his disputation 
with Episcopius, it certainly was no evidence of his ^'benevolent disposition." 
The Gormarists, who were Calvinists, like the established Church in England, 
would tolerate no dissenters from their principles. The Armenians differed 
fl-om them only with regard to the unintelligible mysteries of predestination, 
election, justification, and gi-ace. If Robinson had one spark of a " benevolent 
disposition," he would not have joined the cry of persecution, in huntingdown 
a sect for such differences of opinion, especially when these Armenians could 
boast, of having then at their head, such men as tJ*e;putriotic Barnevelt and 
the learned Grotius. , 

NOTE (P) p, ^1?^^. 

I am well aware, that the Gallican Church, in iW latter end of the seven- 
teenth century, made, under the auspices of Louis XIV, a noble stand against 
the encroachments of the papal power. Had the jSHvr articles, contained in the ' 
dcclai-ation made^bv tfe^^bieral assembly of the Fi'ench clcrgj^^*n the 19th of 
March, 16B2, l)ten aci'l'i^^jdged by the pope, an'cV adopted throiighout other 
Catholic countries in r^ufope, the Roman Catholic church would have been as 
harmless hi its political tenets as any other sect of Christians. The first of thDse 
articles was, " That kings and princes are not subject to the ecclesiastical power 
as^to tlKiir tcmpprals ; and that they cannot be deposed, directly or indirectly. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 37^9 

by the authority of the keys of the church, nor their subjects absolved from 
the alleg-iance and obedience, which they owe them." See Dvpin's His- . of the 
Church, Cent. XVII, ch. 19. But it is well known, that pope Innocent XI, as 
soon as he was informed of these proceedings of the French bishops, immedi* 
ately called a consistory at Rome, in which these four articles or propositions, 
were formally condemned and ordered to be burnt. See the Mod. Univ. Hist. 
Yol. 26, p. 479. The Republic of Venice had, indeed, in the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, made a feeble effort to oppose the power of the pope to 
interfere in the political affairs of the state, but in the end, were obliged to 
yield to it. The power of the pope, therefore, in deposing kings, and absolv- 
ing subjects from their allegiance, was generally acknowledged throughout the 
greater number of the Catholic states of Europe, until the emperor Napoleon, 
on the 17th of February, 1810, deprived the Roman pontiff of all temporal 
power, and obliged him to swear to the observance of the above-mentioned 
four propositions contained in the declaration of the French clergj', in 1682, 
yjs before-mentioned. 

NOTE (Q) p. 224. 

The author. In vindication of those observations he makes on the conduct of 
t^e Catholics, begs leave to add a quotation from a work, \\hich he has once 
or twice before cited, and which has been always held in high estimation by 
the literati of all Europe. Bayk, in his Historical and Critical Dictionary, art. 
Elizabeth, makes the following remarks on MorerVs Dictionary, in relation to 
the same article : *' He should not have several times exaggerated the perse- 
cutions of the Roman Catholics, without mentioning the acts of rebellion which 
exposed them to that storm. A faithful historian, ought first to have observed, 
their plots against the queen's government, and then the severe pimishmeut 
she inflicted for those plots. The transposition of these two things, would be 
great unfiiithfulness in a historian. What name then sliall be given to Moreri's 
conduct, who suppresses entirely those plots ?" In another remark on the same 
article, he observes^^^' Elizabeth was forced, by reasons of state, to use seve- 
rity towards Papist'sO Some lost their lives ; a great number of others, either 
suffered the rigour^fejmprisonment or inconveniences of exile. The Protes- 
tants of England e^^^s this ; they do not deny the fact; but they maintain, 
that the wicked attempts of the Papists against the government, and against 
the queen, deserved such a punishment. You will be sure not to find this ob- 
servation in the libels of the English Roman Catholics. You will indeed find 
the punisftments, with all the rhetorical flourisl^s that can amplify them, but 
not a word of the seditious enterprizes which p"M^ede^, and were the cause of 
them. There are few relations, in which the order of events is not confounded. 
• This confusion is not always produced by fraud ; a too turbulent zeal, is some- 
times the cause of it. An ill-conducted zeal, fixes the mind upon the hard- 
ships of persecuted virtue, and causes the provocation of the persecutors \o 
be forfotten. If these two causes are not sufficient, dishonesty, whifli- alojie 



S80 KOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

would disorder the events, completes the confusion. However it be, I have 
observed, that the principal diflbrence between the accounts of C.ilholics and 
Protestants, consists in the order of the facts : each party endeavours to giva 
the fiist place to the injuries thej' have endured ; tliey make a long- detail of 
these, and pass o\'er slightly what they have done, by way of reprisals, or what 
they have suffered as a just punishment." These remarks of Mr. Bayle, may 
be pi-esumed to have been made with the utmost impartiality. He was by birth 
a Frenchman, a son of a Huguenot minister in the south of France. For his fine 
talents and learning, he was made professor of moral philosophy and history, in 
the Protestant college of Sedan. But that college being suppi-esi^ed by Louis 
XIV, about the time of his revocation of the edict of Nantes, and Mr. Bayle 
being offered a like professorship in the college of Rotterdam, in Holland, he 
became a resident of that place, and there passed the remainder of his life. 
Although he always professed himself a member of the reformed French 
church, (except during a temporary conversion to the Catholic church, at an 
eai-ly period of his life,) yet his writings gave his enemies some apparent 
gi'ounds to accuse him of Deitsm, and some indeed of Atheism. He was cer- 
tainly, what was called in England about this time, a. Free-thinker ,- and his 
writings, particularly his Dictionarj-, abound witli severe sarcasms on the su- 
perstition and fanaticism of the age in which he lived. For this reason, his 
character was assailed by t|ie bigots and fanatics, both of the Catholics and 
the Calvinists ; but for the same reason also, his opinions, like those of Mr. 
Hume, are to be respected as of the most impartial authority, in all historicid 
controversies between these two sects of religion. 

NOTE (R) p. 233. 
This commission, of July 15th, 1624, has been passed unnoticed by most oi' 
the historians of Virginia, possibly on account of the shortness of its duration, 
though it is probable that the proclamation of king Charles, on the 13th of 
May, 1625, might have been considered as a confirmation of this commission. 
Upon the dissolution of the second and third charters of Virginia, under the 
judgment in the court of king's bench, on the Qiio Wurrcnito, king James 
thought it proper to ei-ect a provincial coinicil for "the management of the bu- 
siness and affairs of Virginia 27; Englandy^ which he did by this commission of 
July 15th, 1624. On the suggestion of this provincial council, he afterwards 
issued another commission, bearing date the 26th of August, (same year,) di- 
rected to Sir Francis Wyat and others, (which see in Hazard^ Collections, 
Vol. 1, p. 189,) appointing a governour and council in Virginiu. Both these 
commissions were intended, (as expressed in the body of them,) to be only tem- 
porary, until a new charter could, upori " advised consideration and delibera- 
tion," be passed, or *' some other constant and settled course be resolved upon 
and established;" and each of them had a clause of limitation of time at the 
end of thcnij to wit : " to continue in force until such time as the kmg, by 
vriting under his signet or privy seal, should signify his pleasure to the con- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 384 

trary." This latter commission to the govcrnour and council in Virginia was 
not intended to be repugnant to the former commission, to the provisional coun- 
cil in England, for the former were to act " according to suchunstrucvions as 
they should receive from the king or his commissiotiers here" (in England,} 
" to that purpose or intent." 

NOTE (S) p. 254, 26^!. 

(Copied from HazarcVs Collections, Vol. 1, p. 337.) 

Or4er of Council upon the Dispute between the Virginia planters and lord 

Baltimore ; 

£VOTES OF THE ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA.] 

At the Star Chamber, third of Julv, 1633. 
Present 

Lord Keeper, Earl of Danbije, 

Lord Privy Seal, Lord Viscount Wentxcorth, 

Lord Hijh Chamberlain, Lord Viscount Falkland. 

Earl of Dorset, Lord Cottington, 

Earl of Bridge-water, Mr. Secretary Whidebavk. 

Whereas an humble petition of the planters in Virginia, was presented 
to his majesty, in which they remonstrate, that some gi-ants have lately 
been obtained, of a great proportion of lands and territories within the 
limits of the colony there, being the places of their traffic, and so near the 
places of their habitations, as will give a general disheartening to the plant- 
ers, if they be divided into several governments, and a bar to that trade 
which they have long since exercised towards their supportation and relief, un- 
der the confidence of his majesty's royal and gracious intentions towards them* 
as by the said petition more largely appeareth. Forasmuch, as his majesty 
was pleased, on the twelfth oi Maij last, to refer to the board the consideration 
of this petition; that upon the advicejind report of their lordships, sucli order 
might he taken as to his majesty's wisdom should seem best; it was there- 
upon ordered, upon the fourth of Jvne last, that the business should be heard 
the second Friday in this term, which was the twenty-eighth of the last 
month, that all parties interested should then attend, which was accordingly 
^rformed; and their lordships having heard the cause, did then order tliat 
the lord Baltimore, being one of the parties, and the adventurers and planters 
of Virginia aforesaid, should meet together between that time and this day, 
and accommodate their controversy in a friendly manner, if it might be ; and 
likewise set down in writing the propositions made by either party, which was 
likewise accordingly done. Now their lordships having heard and maturely 
considered the said propositions, answers and reasons, and whatsoever else was 
alleged on either part, did think it fit to leave the lord Baltimore to his patent, 
and the other parties to the course of law, according to their desire; but for 



38:2 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

the preventing' of further questions and differences, their lordships did also 
think fit and order that thing-s stand as they do ; the planters on either side 
shall have free traffic and commerce each with the other, and that neither part 
shall receive any fugitive person belonging to the other, nor do any act which 
may draw a war from the natives upon either of them ; and lastly, that they 
shall sincerely entertain all good correspondence, and assist each other upon 
all occasions, in such manner as becometh fellow-subjects and members of the 
Hame state. 

NOTE (T) p. 313. 
In illustration of this early contest between the lord Baltimore and his colo. 
nists, relative to the right of propounding laws for the assembly to enact, it 
may be observed, that about the same time, or a few years prior to it, (in 
1634,) a dispute, somewhat similar to it, took place between the lord deputy 
of Ireland, and the Irish house of lords. It will appear, pei-haps, a little 
extraordinary to Americans, (in the present state of their political sentiments,) 
when they are informed that an Irish statute made in the 10th Hen. Tlh (com- 
monly called Sir Edward Po\Tiing-s law, was enacted (as the statute expresses 
it,) " at the request of the commons of the land of Ireland," and was, during 
the 16th and 17th centuries, considered by the people of Ireland, as the Irish 
Magna Charta, by which, " No parliament was to be holden thereafter in the 
said land, but at such season as the hijig's lieutenant and covncil there first do 
certify the king under the great seal of that land, the causes and considera- 
tions and cW swcA «c;« as (to) them seemeth, should pass in the same parlia- 
ment, and such causes, considerations, and act«, affirmed by the king and his 
council" (in England,) " and his license thereupon, as well in affirmation of 
the said caiises and acts, as to summon the said parliament had and obtained." 
Tile Irish house of peers contended (in 1634.) that being the king's hereditary 
council, they could originate statutes to be sent to England, for the king's ap- 
probation, according to the statute ; but lord Wentworth (the then lord lieu- 
tenant of Ireland) protested against the proposition. And indeed, the words 
of the statute Seem clearly to have justified his ideas, as it expressly confines 
it to the lieutenant and his council, meaning his privy council. See Leland's 
Vlist. of Ireland, Vol. 2, p. 108, and the appendix thereto. Vol. 3, p. 20; ^so 
4 Inst. 352. Thus lord Baltimore, an Irish peer, might have been led to con- 
strue his charter, like Poj-ning's law, vesting him with the prerogative of first 
propounding to the assembly such laws as were to be enacted : but whether he 
ever meant to contend for such a prerogative or not, it is certain, that the as- 
sembly after this session of 163r-8, ever afterwards exerted the right of fra- 
vT\'mg their o\v'n laws, to be afterwaj-ds approved and assented to by the lord 
■. roprietor. 

NOTE (V) p. 330. 

-\s the original scheme of colonising .Maryland, was evidently formed upon 
■ " plan of the feudal institutions, as they existed in England at the time of 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 383 

ihe first emigration to this province, some few remarks in illustration thereof 
inay not be deemed altogether unnecessary. 

Although the feudal system might have been known to the Anglo-Saxons, it 
does not appear to have been ever introduced into England, in any considera- 
ble extent, prior to the Norman conquest. There were manors possessed by 
t)»e Saxon thanes or lords, having their subordinate tenants holdmg under 
allodial or free tenures, yielding" a certain rent, and parts of those manors reser- 
ved by those thanes for their own immediate rural use, similar to the demesTies 
after the conquest. But when that event occurred, William the Conqueror 
claiming all the lands of the kingdom by right of conquest, or, as some say, 
only those that accrued to him by right of forfeiture, for ti-eason, in opposing 
his title to the crown, parcelled them out to his several principal followers or 
feudal chieftams, in such distributive shares as best pleased him. To several 
of them each he gave many hundreds of manors. (Siillhan''s Lectures, lect. 17; 
and see an enumeration of the names oi many of these chieftains, and the numbi r 
of manors given to each of them. Hume's Hist, of England, Vol. 1, appendix II.) 
These Norman chieftains were called barons, a term (according to the learned. 
Sir Henry Spelman, Gloss, verb. Baro,) which seems to have b£en first intro- 
duced into England by the Normans, or at least was not in common use there 
prior to their conquest of that kingdom ; for although, as he observes, the 
word occurs in the translations of the laws both of the Danes and Saxons, yet 
the term itself was not known in their language, and consequently was not 
used by them in the original language of their laws, but was substituted by 
the Norman writers in their translations of these laws, for some other term in 
their language synonymous thereto. From the etymology of the term, it 
seems, according to him, to have originally signified a man. {Baro, natiyo 
sensu, idem esse videtur quod Latinis vir. Gloss, verb. Baro.) By the an- 
cient Francks the word vir was pronounced ber ,- hence this learned antiquarian 
conjectures that the word baro was originally synonymous with the Latin word 
i*ii-o, and thus to have been susceptible of v.arlous significations; as, simply 

a man — a man of eminence — or a married man, in which last sense, it may 

be observed, that the word baron is the common term in use at this day in our 
law books. The term baron sometimes signified also a freeman, or freedman; 
(Baro pro homine libero, et libertino. — Gloss, ibid.) It was synonymous also 
to freeholder ; (Baro pro vassallo seu cliente feodali in genere, ct quem nos 
libcrc tenentem vocamus. — Gloss, ibid.) 

Most of the barons, if not all, in the time of AVillium the Conqueror, held 
the lands granted to them immediately of the king. They were thence called 
by ancient feudal writers tenants in capiie, though afterwards, by the common 
law, those only were considered as tenants in capite who held immediately of 
the person of the king, as of his crown, and not of him, by reason of any ho- 
novr, manor, castle, he, {Co. Litt. 108, a.) Hence, in lord Baltimore's charr 
ter, it is expressed, that he was to hold of the king, as of his castle of Wind- 
sor, and not in capite. OS thess barens, in. the ti'me of the Conqueror, and 



384 >rOTES AND ILLUSTR.\TIOKS. 

shortly fiftcr, some held more, some less lands, which differed not only in 
quantity but in value. This produced the distinction of ^'eater and lesser ba- 
rons, — barones majores et minores. But every immediate military tenant of 
the crown, however small his holding, was, by the principles of the more an- 
cient feudal constitutions, a baron, and obliged to assist the king, not only 
with his personal and military sei-vice, if required, but also with his advice, 
that is, to attend in parliament. (Sullivan's Lectures, lect. 20, Spelman'i- 
Gloss, verb, liaro, p. 66.) But as this attendimce was usually by Writ of Sum- 
mons, for that ptirpose sent to them in the name of the king, it became a prac- 
tice, in subsequent reigns, to neglect the lesser barons, and summon only the 
greater. Two reasons are assigned for tliis; first, that the number of bai-ons 
in the kingdom being not less than thirty thousand, no house could hold them, 
ii they were all to attend in parliament, {Spehmai's Gloss, verb. Baro, p. 66, 
<>7;) secondly, that attendance in parliament was considei-ed by the lesser ba- 
rons, who could not afford the expense, rather as a grievous burthen, than an 
honourable privilege. {SuUivaii's Lectures, lect. 20.) Sir Henry Spelman 
adds an additional reason for this neglect; which was, that the kings of Eng- 
l.md had frequent quarrels with their bai-ons, and were therefore glad of dis- 
pensing with their presence. — Sic antiqua ilia baronum dignitas, (he observes,) 
.wcessit sensim in titularem et arbitrariam,- regioque tandem diphmate (letters 
patent) idcirco dispensata est. 

This learned writer further distinguishes the barons of England, as they 
existed at the time when he wrote, which was about the time of the first emi. 
gration to Maryland, into three different kinds, according to their origin. — 
" Hodiernos itaque nostros barones, e triplici fonte, triplices faciamus : feoda- 
le-5 seu prxscriptitios, qui a priscis feodalabus barombus oriundi, suam hodie 
prcscriptione, (magis quam temiro,) tuentur dignitatem. Evocatos seu prescript 
tition, qui brevi regio evocantur ad parliamentum. Et diplomalicos, qui regio 
eliplomate hoc fastigium ascendunt. 

Feodnliuin origincm inter eos collocavero, quibus Willielmus senior Angliam 
totam dispertitus est, de se tenendam : quorumque nomma in Domesdei pagi- 
iiis recognovit. 

Prescriptitios, ab acvo regum Johannis et Ilenrici tcrtii, caput extulisse 
ccnseo. 

Diplomnticos initium sumpsisse perhibent sub Ricardo secvmdo." Spelman'a _ 
Gloss, verb. Baro.) 

If the " Bill for Baronies," bgforc -mentioned, contemplated the creation of 
a rank of people in the province invested with the distinction of the honorary 
title of barons, it must have fallen under ilie first head of the above arrange- 
ment of that order of nobility. They would, most probably, liave derived 
their several titles from their several apportionments of territory ; and might 
therefore have been denominated feudal barons, or as some other writers ex- 
press it, barons by tenure, so called, because the dignity and privileges were 
annexed ID the lands (hey held, SvHivan's Lectures, lect. 20,) They could 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 387 

.not be dcnommated prescriptive, time immemorial being essential to themory. 
tinction ; but, as pvxscviption in such case, implies a feudal origin, it u .-tli, 
amount to the same thing. How far the statute of Quia emptores (18 Edw. 1. 
c. 1,) would have prohibited the lord proprietary from making these subinfeu- 
dations by grants of baronies, so as to enable such barons to regrant to others, 
to hold of themselves, is not for us to determine, with certainty, at this day. 
That statute was dispensed with by the king, in a clause in his charter to the 
lord Baltimore, so as to enable his lordship to grant and create tenures of him- 
self ; for, it seems, that in the time of Henry VIII, and probably at the time of 
the cliarter, it was held, not only that the king, by his royal prerogative, had a 
general power of dispensing with statutes, but in regard to this statute in par- 
ticular, he had this power, inasnnich as tlw staUtte was made for the advantage 
of chief lords, and therefore, the chief lord, with his own assent, might thus 
be enabled to alien and create a tenm-e, to be holden of himself, agreeably to a 
maxim of law : Quilibet renunciare potest beneficium juris pro se introductum. 
{Bro. Jlrb. Tenures, pi. 65. Bacon's Abr. tit. Temire, (B) pi. 11.) Thus tlie 
lord proprietor might have been enabled to grant baronies to hold of himself, 
but it would seem'that the statute must have operated on the subinfeudatory 
grants of those barons, had such barons ever been created. It may be furtlicr 
observed, that under the principles of the feudal system, prior to the statute 
of Qida emptores, the Barones majores, especially counts palatine, (similar to 
whom the lord proprietary of Maryland might be considered,) having J7/ra re- 
galia, might have created barons of their counties palatine. Spelman's Gloss. 
verb. Barones Comitatum. SuUivun's Led. lee. 29. But after tliat statute, which 
was in force at the time of this first session of assembly, such barons, as cre- 
ated by his lordship, must have been subject to the operation of the statute, 
and the words of the dispensation in the charter, seem to confine it to the lord 
proprietor. This observation applies as well to manors as baronies ,- in respect 
to the former of which. Sir William Blackstone observes, " It Is clear, that all 
manors existing at this day, must have existed as early as king Edward I; for 
it is essential to a manor, that there be tenants wlio hold of the lord; and by 
the operation of these statutes, (viz. IS Ed^v. 1. c. 1. 17 Edw. 2. c. 6 ; and 34 
Echv. 3. c. 15,) no tenant in ca^nte since the accession of that prince, and no 
tenant of a common lord since the statute of Quia emptores, could create any new 
tenants to hold of himself." 2 Bl. Com. 92. As these barons, had they been 
created by the lord proprietor, as well as the grantees of manors, to whom 
grants of manors were actually made by hini, rdust \\3.ve been at the most but 
common lords, they would have been, according to Sir William Blackstone, un- 
der the operation of the statute. This view of the subject, it v.'ould seem, 
ought to have settled those questions, which are said (A'Htfs Landholder's 
Assistant, p. 28,) to have arose in the province, relative to tlie rlgl^'s of tbc 
lords or owners of manors, in opposition to those of the proprietan:, as chief 
lord of the fee. 

-Manors (it seems,) were formerly called baronies, as they stUl are lordships, 

3 c 



384 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



- Com. 90;) though it is probable, that they never were known under that 
" ciSomination until after the conquest, when they were distributed by William 
to his Norman barons, as before observed. From whence it is, that the domes- 
tic court, called a court-barony which each lord or baron was empowered to hold 
within his manor, evidently took its title. These common lords, or owners of 
manors, seem (according to Sir Hennj Spelman, GUoss. verb. Baro.) to have been 
included under the ancient feudal denomination of BaroneH minores, in contra- 
distinction to the Baroncs majores, who were mostly Tenants in Capite. They 
were not considered as peers of the realm, and had no right to a scat in parlia- 
ment. The inferior court just mentioned, is, however, by the English common 
law, an mseparable ingredient in every manor, (2 Bl. Com. ibid.) Notwith- 
standing this, and although the lord proprietary of Maryland made numerous 
grants of manors in his province, yet we are informed from good authority, 
as before observed, that no memorial upon record is to be found, of any practi- 
cal use within the province, of eitlicr a court-leet or a court-baron. It is not 
impossible, but the before-mentioned legal objections, resulting from the sta- 
tute of Quia emptoref!, might have prevented these inferior lords, the owners of 
manors within the province, from laying claim to all the baronial privileges 
Himexed by the common law, to tlieir manors, though tlieir grants thereof 
might enable them to hold them as lands under socage-tenure. 

We will close our remarks here, on this subject, with hazarding a conjec- 
ture on the proljable intention of tlie before-mentioned " bill for baronies." 
The reader will recollect, that the colonisation of Ireland, in the reigns of Eli- 
zabeth and Jarnes, (which was a favourite pursuit of the latter monarch, as 
giving him an opportunity of displaying his talents for legislation, as well as 
literary composition,) had preceded that of Maryland but a few years. Sir 
George Calvert entei-ed much into the schemes of king James, being his favou- 
rite secretary. There is, therefore, some grotmd to suppose, that his son Ce- 
cilius, created lord Baltimore, and having become an Irish peer, would promote 
institutions in his province, similai- to those which had been, most probably, 
planned by his father and his patron, James, with regard to Ireland. Now, we 
are told from good authority, (Stdlivun's Lectures, lect 26,) that even at this 
dav, those divisions of a country, which in England are called hundreds, are in 
Ireland called baronies. We have authority also, for supposing, that this deno- 
mination of the divisions of a county in Ireland, took place either in the latter 
end of the reign of Elizabeth or first of James, while attempts were making at 
that time, to plant English colonists there. In Spelman's Glossary, (verb. Ba- 
ronia,) is the following passage : " Baronia pro parte Comitatus quam Hundre- 
tlim dicimus. Sic frequens in Hlbernia, ubi Connacia Provincia sub nostra 
wemorm in Comitatus dispartita est: Comitatusque deinceps in Baronias dis- 
secti, ut miper etiam in Ultonia factum intelligo." This part of his Glossary 
was first published in 1626, and we may suppose it to have been compiled not 
long before its publication. He died in 1641, at the age of eighty; so that the 
iirst division of Connaught into counties, which took place in the yoar 1790. 



. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 387 

iLeland^s Hist, of Ireland, Vol. 2, p. 247,) might have been wiihm his memory. 
The first division of Ulster into counties, was also in the reign of Elizabeth, 
not many years afterwaixls, about 1585 ; but as the turbulence of the native 
Irishj which prevailed most in tlie northern parts of Ireland, prevented any 
eflecls from those divisions of tliat province, until king' James's reign, at the 
time of his instituting the hereditary order of baronets, (about 1611,) it is pro- 
bable, that Sir Henry Spelman, here, in the words " nuper etiam," aUudes to 
tlie plantations whicJi that moiiarcli was then endeavouring to settle in Ulster. 
From hence results a strong probabilitj', that the before-mentioned " bill for 
baronies," contemplated a division of counties in Maryland, similar to that 
adopted in Ireland, whicli it seems was analagous to those of hundreds in Eng- 
land ; and not, perhaps, intended to create an order of nobility in the province, 
as might at this day be supposed. Although Leland, the Irish historian, has 
mentioned this sclieme for colonising Ulster, in a veiy cursory manner, yet we 
may from tlience collect some further incidents, analagous to lord Baltimore's 
plan for that of Maryland. " The lands to be planted, were divided in thi-ee 
different proportions ; the greatest to consist of two thousand English acres, 
the least of one thousand, and the middle of fifteen hundred." " Estates 
were assigned to all, to be held by them and their heirs : the undertakers of 
two thousand acres, were to hold of the king vi capite ; those of fifteen hun- 
dred, by knight's service ; those of a thousan;!, in common socage." " They 
had power to erect manors, to hold courts-baron, and to create tenures." We 
may here discern a considerable resemblance to the scheme directed in lord 
Baltimore's first instructions, to his lieutenant-general, of the 8th of August, 
1636; which instructions appear to have been autliorised, in this respect, by 
the 19th section of his charter. 



THE END. 



'F'liomas T. Stiles, Printer, Philadelphia. 



if^ 



ERRATA, 

In line 11, of Ihe summary of contents of Sect. I, for " Castler* s," read "Car- 
tier's" — 1. 4, p. 10, (Me " Maryland" and insert "America" — 1. 8, note in p. 12, 
insert " by" between the words " made" and " them" — 1. 2d, note in p. 13, dele 
" is" between the words " certainly" and " witliout" and insert " being-" — 1. 4, 
2d note in p. 16, instead of " tenure" alter it to " tenor" — 1. 4, note in p. 21, 
ilele " domination" and insert " denization" — 1. 14, p. 34, instead of " admiral 
Cabot" read "admiral Chabot" — 1. 10, p. 36, for "Cuodriers" read "Coudriers" 
— 1. 12, p. 40, altei- tiie word " tiling" to " king" ; and in the next 1. the word 
" erected" into " created" ; and in the last 1. of the note in the same p. ilele the 
figures " 24" and insert " 113" — 1. 1, 1st note in p. 47, for "Barkhurst" read 
" Parkhurst" — 1. 4, note in p. 89, instead of " consisling" read " counting" — 
1. 1, p. 122, for " Pontgrave" read " Ponti-incourl" ; and in tlie 2d 1. of the 
same p. for " Pontrincourt' read " Pontgrave" — 1. 1, of Sect. \ 1, dc-k the y in 
tiie word " eighty" ; that is, for " one hundred and eiglity years" read " one 
hundred and eight" — 1. 26, p. 159, instead of "There" read "This" — 1. 2d, note 
in page 181, instead of " Boyle" read " Bayle" — 1. 26, same p. (TBI,) instead of 
" faniastic" read " fanatic" — 1. 9, p. 184, for " not" read " now" — ^1. 5, p. 187, 
insert the woid " as" between " with" and " ardent" — 1. 5, p. 189, instead of 
"reslraims" read "vestments" — 1. 15, p. 192, instead of" blow" read "law" 
—1.3, p. 202, instead of " for" read "far"— 1. 4, of the con^ents of Sect. IX, 
instt;d of " successes" read "excesses" — 1. 24, p. 241, for "probably" read 
" probable"—]- IT", p. 255, for " 1682" read " 1632"— last 1. of p. 264, strike 
out the words, "the consideration of" — 1.11, p. 269, for "on" read "at" 
— 1. 11, p. 282, instead of the words " to begin" read "beyond" — 1. 10, note 
in p. 288, instead of " islands" read " island" — 1. 13, p. 295, instead of " chap- 
ter" read " charter" — 1. 7, p. 338, instead of " Meantys" i-ead " Mcautys"; 
and the same again in the last 1 of p. 24, and in the 2d 1. of p. 342 — last'l. of 
p. 351, instead of "on" read " as". 

POSTSCRIPT... .As the distance between the press and the residence of the 
author, precluded him from an)' opportimity of revising the proof-sheets as tluy 
came from the press, it is ho])ed tlmt the reader will excuse the foregoing list 
oi' errata, which have taken place in the printing of this vohmie ; and he is so- 
licited to make the alterations with his pen, in the places therein referred to- 



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